Images from The Nation Thailand/ANN
BANGKOK (The Nation Thailand/ANN): Prolific petitioner Srisuwan Janya was arrested at his house in Pathum Thani province on Friday for alleged extortion following a police complaint filed by a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Natthakit Khongthip, director-general of the ministry’s Rice Department, accused Srisuwan of demanding 3 million baht in hush money from him in exchange for not pursuing action over alleged irregularities involving two of the agency’s projects.
In his complaint, Natthakit said he had managed to negotiate for the demanded amount to be halved and agreed to pay 140,000 baht up front.
The official secretly made a video recording the alleged payment, which was later used as evidence when he filed his complaint with the Royal Thai Police’s Anti-Corruption Division.
He also accused two politicians from the ruling coalition – Yoswaris Chuklom and Pimnattha Jiraputthiphak of the United Thai Nation Party – of being Srisuwan’s accomplices.
Yoswaris, a former comedian whose stage name was Jeng Dokjik, is a political appointee named to a government working group by Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, who is the leader of the United Thai Nation Party. Pimnattha is a former election candidate of the party.
According to a source, director-general Natthakit told police that although he was confident there were no irregularities involving the projects as alleged by Srisuwan, he decided to make the payment for fear that frequent complaints could eventually damage his reputation.
The official’s police complaint led to arrest warrants against Srisuwan and Pimnattha for allegedly encouraging a state official to commit wrongdoing, and against Yoswaris for demanding bribery and dereliction of duty.
A police sting operation was planned for Natthakit to pay another 500,000 baht to Srisuwan on Friday, a source said.
In addition to police officers from the Anti-Corruption Division, officials from the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission also participated in the operation.
An envelope containing banknotes totalling 500,000 baht was handed over to Srisuwan’s wife at their house in Lamlukka district of Pathum Thani province on Friday afternoon.
Waiting officials entered the house to make an arrest. The source said Srisuwan ran with the cash envelope to throw it out of his house, but the officers later managed to retrieve the envelope.
Following Srisuwan’s arrest, police searched his house for possible additional evidence. His wife was requested to be questioned by police investigators to determine if she had anything to do with the alleged offence.
Shortly after Srisuwan’s arrest, Deputy PM Pirapan called Pol Maj-General Jaroonkiat Pankaew, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, to arrange for the surrender of Yoswaris and Pimnattha, according to a source.
Srisuwan is known for filing complaints against several politicians and senior bureaucrats. One of his previous petitions led to the disbandment of the Future Forward Party in February 2020 after the Constitutional Court found that the party had accepted an unlawful political donation.
Tycoon-turned-politician Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, then leader of the party, loaned 191 million baht to Future Forward at an unusually low interest rate, which the court considered to be a political donation and exceeding the legal limit of 10 million baht from any individual per year, as set by the Political Parties Act.
