Thailand

Some Thai Airways employees accused of faking death certificates for funeral allowances

Published

2 weeks ago

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Caitlin Ashworth

Some Thai Airways employees accused of faking death certificates for funeral allowances | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Nation Thailand

In yet another case of alleged corruption linked to Thai Airways, some employees are accused of using fake death certificates to receive funeral allowances provided through the company’s savings cooperative, causing an estimated 14 million baht in damages.

A complaint was filed today with the Crime Suppression Division by 20 members of the Savings Cooperative for Employees of Thai Airways International. Weerayut Thuankong, a representative from the cooperative, says the 26 cases of fraud back to 2013. He says they believe there could be more cases of fraud before 2013 and are asking police to step in.

“The cooperative has found that the number of members filing for funeral allowance has increased suspiciously over several years… We checked the evidence they submitted and found that the death certificates appeared to be fake, as the persons declared dead are still working for the company.”

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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News Categories:Crime Thailand

27 Comments

Francis A
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Desperate times, I’m afraid this is just the beginning.
On top of this the government gives 600 000 immigrants free pass to work her and free healthcare. Yeah, Thai people don’t want those jobs, but I believe that when I gets worse and it will those low paid jobs are better than no income at all.
Reply
Jesus Monroe
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 6:44 pm
That’s because they know they’re the walking dead in a dead end job…..R.I.P
Reply
Graham Smith
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 7:38 pm
What kind of people are these thais????????
LOJ!!!
Reply
Jim kelly
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 7:43 pm
Am I correct in thinking king HIMSELF has a role in this company? It’s on the Royal Portfolio?? Curious.
Reply
Mr cynic
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 7:49 pm
This is a good one even by TG standards.
Perhaps somebody should sign and stamp a genuine death certificate for the whole outfit.
Reply
Gosport
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 8:03 pm
What kind scam? HR has no network system? The HR data was hacked.
Reply
Ben
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 8:27 pm
Shit happens where money and people are involved. Where is the governance at Thai Airways? The Board and C Suite aren’t paid enough to manage the company properly? They buy airplanes that lose money from day one and no one figured that out years ago? Unbelievable corruption and gutting of a state owned company. This is a poster child for why governments should not own for profit companies.
Reply
- Ynwaps
  Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 12:41 am
  But it isn’t profitable so technically they aren’t owning a company for profit 🙈
  Reply
  - Mr cynic
    Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 2:47 am
    Ironically back in the 80’s and early 90’s when the company was 100 percent government owned and run by ex Thai air force personal the company was profitable and highly respected within the aviation circles worldwide.
    They used to win many global industry awards on a very regular basis.
    Reply
Ynwaps
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 9:13 pm
“the persons declared dead are still working for the company”
Is the funeral allowance that bad? Otherwise they would have used family member instead of family employees
Reply
Mark
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 9:19 pm
Never put any possible way to cheat lie decieve any person or organisation that a Thai wouldn’t try
Reply
June
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 9:23 pm
So sad :'(
Reply
- Toby Andrews
  Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 9:46 pm
  What’s so sad?
  There is no morality that Thais will not violate and exploit to make money.
  Daily you will see another example.
  These people are the scum of the Far East. Wake up!
  The smiling Thai is a devil looking for a chance to steal, cheat, and corrupt to make money.
  Reply
EdwardV
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 10:29 pm
How in the heck can you fake your own death and continue to keep working? And it’s not even just one person. Is there a better example of the fact Thai Airways is a complete and total basket case? Honestly they should have been shut down long ago. There is no amount of reorganization that can make this sow’s ear into a silk purse.
Reply
- Issan John
  Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 1:22 am
  I have to agree, Ed V, as unless I’ve mis-read it too the article (and original source) says that at least 26 employees submitted fake death certificates to get a funeral allowance from the company savings scheme and no-one in the company noticed they were still employed and getting paid – and presumably still paying into the company savings scheme …
  If correct, that isn’t corruption, just … ummm … 😮
  Reply
  - Bill
    Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 2:27 am
    notice how ij doesn’t label it corruption
    Reply
    - Issan John
      Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 8:07 am
      I don’t because I don’t see any reported / alleged.
      Fraud? Yes.
      Incompetence? Beyond any doubt.
      Where’s the corruption?
      Just asking …
      Reply
      - Issan John
        Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 8:43 am
        FWIW, there’s evidently no shortage of reported corruption in Thai Airways, mainly in procurement, as well as nepotism, cronyism and abuse of power.
        To me, though, if a company that has over twenty thousand employees has an HR system that allows employees it’s registered as dead to continue to be paid that doesn’t indicate “corruption” but incompetence and a system that’s flawed beyond belief.
        However “corrupt” the organisation, the system should have made it impossible to pay someone the system’s registered as dead.
        Personally I’d be far more worried about flying with or trusting an organisation that was that incompetent with a system that inefficient rather than one that was “corrupt”, as it indicates far more fundamental flaws with the organisation rather than individuals, but … well … up to you.
Kuhn David
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 10:38 pm
Perhaps the current slogan for the Country should change from “Land of Smiles” to “Land of Corruption.”
Reply
Grumpy John
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 4:35 am
Dang, I am late to the party again! It’s not corruption people…it’s book keeping errors. Easy to do…easy to fix so I don’t know why their wasting valuable police time when a few strokes of the pen could fix it. Everything at Thai airways has been fixable in the past…and will be in the future.
My Initials are JSH….and NO the ‘S’ does not stand for Sarcasm. It may be ‘Scurrilous’ but I am not telling!
Reply
James Pate
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 5:34 am
If the law doesn’t get them, karma will. The fake death certificates may become real, just pre-dated.
Reply
Geoff
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 5:45 am
Misunderstandings? Joking aside, it’s because every TG employee could see what was going on at the top of the company and it filtered down. Such a shame for such a good airline to be dragged into the current state.
Reply
Danish Twirl
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 7:08 am
Good luck to them
Reply
Khun K
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 7:14 am
I must admit that I have been very happy flying with TG on the past , however not the case anymore unfortunately.
if those employees still on the payroll get the money back and bye bye with not company pension , if they retired and still alive stop the payment or get them back .
Thailand it is a very corrupt country unfortunately.
Reply
June
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 8:39 am
Once upon a time thai air give orchid to every border on the aircraft with a smile and say swadikha.. Alas now it has became history ..
Reply
Anna
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 8:50 am
There is corruption all countries even in Australia now see, ex-Finance Minister Mathias Cormann looking for a job in Europe using a government VIP jet.
Reply
- Issan John
  Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 1:22 pm
  Agreed, Anna, but that doesn’t excuse it and I don’t see how this can be put down to “corruption”.
  However corrupt the organisation it simply shouldn’t be possible to do this.
  It’s easy to blame everything on “corruption”, but this indicates a system and an organisation that’s completely incompetent.
  Reply

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Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.

Crime

Another drug bust near the Mekong River, 500 kilograms of cannabis seized

Published

11 hours ago

Monday, March 1, 2021

Caitlin Ashworth

Another drug bust near the Mekong River, 500 kilograms of cannabis seized | The Thaiger

PHOTO: MGR Online

In another drug bust in Northeastern province Nakhon Phanom, police arrested a man and seized 500 kilograms of compressed cannabis. Just yesterday, border patrol police in the province seized 920 kilograms of compressed cannabis from a boat on the Mekong River. In both cases, police suspect the cannabis came from Laos, just across the river.

Police say they searched a black Nissan Navara pickup around 1am in the province’s Na Kae district. Police opened the truck’s bed cover and found 12 sacks with 500 packages of dried, compacted cannabis. Each package of cannabis weighed 1 kilogram, similar to the previous bust on the river.

28 year old Saravut Butngam was arrested. Saravut previously worked in construction, but has recently been unemployed. He allegedly told police that a man called him with an opportunity to make 50,000 baht. He was told to drive the pickup truck from a petrol station in the Na Kae district to a specified location in the neighbouring province Sakon Nakhon, police say. From there, another driver would take over.

Border police commander Sippanan Sornkhunkaew says he suspects the cannabis seized in the province was trafficked from Laos across the Mekong River. He says he believes the cannabis was planned to be trafficked to Southern Thailand and then smuggled across the border, possibly to Malaysia.

On Sunday morning, police confiscated 920 kilograms of cannabis from a boat on the Mekong River. When police approached the boat, men jumped off onto a smaller boat and fled the scene. The dried, compacted cannabis was wrapped in 1 kilogram packages.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Drugs

Police seize 920 kilograms of cannabis smuggled across the Mekong River

Published

16 hours ago

Monday, March 1, 2021

Caitlin Ashworth

Police seize 920 kilograms of cannabis smuggled across the Mekong River | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Thairath

In a major bust on the Mekong River, notorious for drug smuggling, border patrol police seized 920 kilograms of dried, compacted cannabis from a boat along the Nakhon Pathom riverbank, bordering Laos.

Police were tipped off about a large shipment of drugs being trafficked across the Thai-Laos border. Police spotted a boat around 4am yesterday. When police moved in, men onboard the boat jumped onto a smaller boat and sped off. Police found 23 sacks filled with 1-kilogram packages of compressed cannabis.

Police seize 920 kilograms of cannabis smuggled across the Mekong River | News by The Thaiger

PHOTO: MGR Online

In the recent months, police have seized more than 5 tonnes of cannabis. While the Thai government has been loosening measures on cannabis, allowing parts of the plant with low traces of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, to be used in food and medicinal products, trafficking cannabis is still illegal. Cannabis with high amounts of THC is still classified as a Category 5 narcotic.

SOURCE:Bangkok Post

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Bangkok

Royal Thai Police accused of “ticket” promotion system to buy senior positions

Published

1 day ago

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Caitlin Ashworth

Royal Thai Police accused of “ticket” promotion system to buy senior positions | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Nation Thailand

The Royal Thai Police are being accused of using so-called “elephant tickets” to buy their way into promotions and pay their way up the police force’s chain of command. The corruption among the police force and the buying of positions without meeting the requirements for a promotion has been a longtime problem, according to the Bangkok Post.

The “elephant ticket” issue was recently brought to light by an opposition MP at a censure debate who said it fast tracked the promotion system and allowed some people who were unqualified and undeserving to raise their rank. Some Thais have protested the “elephant ticket.” Many gathered in front of the Royal Thai Police headquarters in Bangkok last week, including one person who dressed up as an elephant.

At the censure debate on February 19, Move Forward Party MP Rangsiman Rome called out PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, who chairs the Police Commission overseeing the Royal Thai Police, and said the prime minister allowed the “elephant ticket” promotions. Prayut later said there were problems within the police force and that he would handle it.

Police who want a promotion need a ticket, which is basically just a reference or a stamp of approval from a senior officer or even a politician or business person. To get an “elephant ticket,” some can pay for the ticket. A source told the Post that positions for police superintendents cost between 5 to 10 million baht.

Others can get a ticket by doing favours for their superior or even just serving their superior for a long time, sources told the Bangkok Post. The higher the position a senior officer has, the more tickets they have to give out.

To read the full special report by the Bangkok Post, click HERE.

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