Police administrative system cites high-profile lawman’s reported ties to betting system
PUBLISHED: 7 Mar 2025 at 20: 40
A police administrative council on Friday resolved unanimously to flame Pol Gen Surachate” Big Joke” Hakparn, a former deputy police chief, over his alleged role in an online gaming community. He did not get any pension.
The choice brings the lengthy and bright profession of the high-profile sheriff close to an end. He has been sidelined since August last season when a royal order was issued to replace him from the power, on the advice of the Police Commission.
Pol Gen Surachate appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled in December that the treatment was officially only. All that remained to become decided was the sentence the army may impose.
The fire and loss of income today awaits the final confirmation of the federal police key, Pol Gen Kittharat Punpetch.
Local media accounts quoted Pol Gen Surachate as saying he was aware of the latest decision. He said he wanted to review the agency’s report before deciding whether to allure more.
The council that met on Friday was chaired by deputy federal police chief Pol Gen Kraibun Thuadsong, according to a policeman cause. All of the other assistant chiefs were current. Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneela, an inspector-general, was excluded.
Pol Gen Surachate, a high-profile number with a elegance for self-promotion, has attracted unwelcome attention over the past year because of claims that he and four employees were involved in wealth trafficking for the BNK Master gaming system.
The former assistant captain has denied the allegations, saying they were concocted by rivals on the power to prevent his journey to the authorities leader’s position.
A long-simmering discord between groups devoted to Pol Gen Surachate and Pol Gen Torsak Sukvimol intensified in soon 2023 after the latter was chosen as general despite having less rank than any other participant. Pol Gen Torsak is the brother of ACM Satitpong Sukvimol, Lord Chamberlain and mind of the Crown Property Bureau.
The feud became such a distraction for the army that then-prime secretary Srettha Thavisin in March 2024 moved both police commanders to inert articles pending the outcome of an exploration.
The investigation report concluded that there had been factional conflict on the force for a long time, but said that investigations into alleged wrongdoing were for other bodies to decide.
It recommended the reinstatement of Pol Gen Torsak and also said Pol Gen Surachate had been “unfairly dismissed from duty pending investigation”.
Nevertheless, the Police Commission still went ahead and approved the dismissal order.
Rising star
Pol Lt Gen Surachate was long considered a rising star on the police force. He was rarely out of the headlines, placing himself front and centre at the scene of high-profile cases involving everything from immigration violators to illegal motorcycle racers, as well as computer crime cases involving another unit that he headed.
The son of a policeman, Surachate was born in 1970 in Songkhla. After joining the force, he quickly rose through the ranks to command a local station and later moved to Bangkok to head the 191 task force. From there he moved to the tourist police before landing the top job at the Immigration Bureau in 2018, and later becoming a deputy chief.
In 2020 Pol Gen Surachate was the apparent target of gunmen who fired seven bullets into his Lexus while it was parked on Surawong Road in Bangkok.
He denied the incident had been staged, saying the attack was related to the Immigration Bureau’s procurement of an expensive biometric screening system, which was recently revealed to be non-functional.
The case was never solved, and a senior officer was later dismissed over the leak of a recording in which a superior is heard telling him not to pursue the investigation.
In July 2023 it was reported that the National Anti-Corruption Commission was planning to file charges against former national police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda and three other high-level officers in connection with the procurement of the biometric system. There has been no progress in the case since then.