Excise Dept investigates caller in truck bribes scandal
The Excise Department has launched an investigation into a man claiming to be a senior officer with the department who urged police to drop charges involving an illegal oil tanker truck seized in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on Tuesday.
Local police in collaboration with Prachuap Khiri Khan excise officers on Tuesday stopped a truck carrying 15,000 litres of diesel allegedly without a tax payment document on Phet Kasem Road at km.308 in the province’s Muang district.
Soon after the arrest, police reportedly received a phone call from a man claiming to be a senior excise officer, urging them to drop the charge and release the driver, Sombat (last name withheld), 47, who was in police custody. The police refused to comply and alerted the department.
Kriangkrai Pattanaporn, deputy director-general and spokesman of the Excise Department, said on Tuesday that the director-general Ekniti Nitithanprapas promptly established a committee to investigate the issue, which could be related to an illegal operation and affect the department’s reputation.
Kriangkrai said the committee has been tasked with tracking down the caller, and checking the origin of the tanker as well as identifying any parties related to its transport.
He insisted that the investigation will be transparent to ensure justice is served, and that the department will notify the public of the progress periodically.
The issue of illegal activity on Thailand’s roads came to public attention earlier this month when the Land Transport Federation of Thailand submitted information about bribes involved in the issuing of truck stickers to Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, a Move Forward Party list MP-elect campaigning against the bribery.
The ensuing investigation by the police’s Counter Corruption Division led to the incrimination of six officers from the Highway Police Division for their alleged participation in the issuing of stickers for illegally overloaded lorries to prevent them from being stopped at checkpoints.
