Arrests loom next week for three groups of suspects

PUBLISHED: 9 May 2025 at 03: 30

Search goes on: Rescue teams are still searching for eight bodies in the collapsed State Audit Office building. Despite extensive efforts in three high-priority zones, none were recovered yesterday. (Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) — Eight systems are still being looked for by rescue teams inside the State Audit Office building, which is still in disrepair. Despite considerable work in three high-priority areas, none were recovered yesterday. ( Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration )

Next week, police are expected to issue arrest warrants for three individuals allegedly involved in the collapse of the State Audit Office’s ( SAO ) under-construction building during the earthquake on March 28.

The Metropolitan Police Bureau’s assistant captain, Pol Maj Gen Noppasin Poolsawat, reported yesterday that 193 witnesses had been interrogated by prosecutors thus far.

They included SAO officers, the injured’s families, the building’s contracted manufacturers, the building bosses, and design workers.

He claimed that investigators have been gathering a range of types of evidence, including witness testimony, circumstantial evidence, physical evidence, and documentation, from the drafting of the terms of reference ( TOR ), design, supervision, and construction contracts to material evidence like steel and concrete fragments.

The investigation has focused on three groups: the design team, which includes members of Forum Architect and Meinhardt ( Thailand ), the construction team, which includes members of the joint ventures between SET-listed Italian-Thai Development and China Railway Number 10 ( Thailand ), and the construction supervision team, which is made up of members of PKW, a joint venture between PN Synchronize, KP Consultants and Management, and W and Associates Consultants.

The Council of Engineers, the Engineering Institute of Thailand, and executive researchers at Chulalongkorn University were given the 30-storey building’s architecture framework, according to Pol Maj Gen Noppasin, to check whether it complied with engineering and architectural standards, development principles, and other pertinent governmental regulations. The outcomes of this evaluation are anticipated the following month.

To date, researchers have gathered 315 pieces of plastic evidence from the webpage, including steel and concrete examples. The primary sampling process has been completed, but results are expected the following year, he said.

He continued,” The elevator design was altered.”