Thai immigration official transferred amid allegations of bribery

A Thai immigration official has been transferred and an investigation launched following allegations of corruption. The officer is accused of demanding regular bribes from an immigrant in the Hat Yai district of Songkhla, in southern Thailand. Officers from Immigration Division 6 have now launched an investigation into the claims. They insist the investigation will be transparent and impartial, adding that if the officer is found guilty, he will be punished accordingly.

The alleged corruption came to light as a result of a recording published by the anti-corruption Facebook page, Strong Thailand. The sound clip is allegedly a conversation that took place between the immigration officer and an unnamed migrant, in which the officer asks about money he says is owed to him.

According to a Nation Thailand report, the migrant can be heard answering that he is currently unable to pay, due to financial hardship from Covid-19. The person alleged to be the immigration officer responds by threatening the man with arrest if he doesn’t pay.

Late last year, immigration officials at border crossings were accused of causing a resurgence in Covid-19 due to corrupt practices that allowed illegal migrants to cross into Thailand for work in the central province of Samut Sakhon, where the second wave of the virus broke out.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand