Barkar Nash (Page 1,006)

PHANG-NGA: Tsunami-warning buoy 23461, which stopped transmitting data on July 31, has been recovered by a navy vessel, having drifted away from its original station about 340 kilometres northwest of Phuket in the Andaman Sea, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reported.

The search and recovery was organised by the DDPM, the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre and the 3rd Naval Area.

It was  located by the offshore patrol vessel HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan, which departed from Phang-nga navy base on Sunday at 8.30am to track down the buoy by following its GPS signal.

At 2.20pm, the buoy was found about 30km northwest of the Koh Surin islands, off Phang-nga, and taken on board.

HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan was due to return to Phang-nga navy base on Monday morning. The buoy would then be taken to the local disaster prevention and mitigation office for examination to find out why it stopped transmitting data, why it drifted off station and for any needed repairs.

Pheu Thai Party prime ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin is suing whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit for 500 million baht for defamation over comments made about a land purchase by property developer Sansiri Plc.

Mr Srettha was chief executive oficer of Sansiri before deciding to run for election and subsequently for prime minister.

Winyat Chartmontree, Mr Srettha’s lawyer, said at the Criminal Court on Monday that his client had him file the lawsuit because Mr Chuvit’s comments at a press conference on Aug 3 could mislead the public and  parliamentarians into thinking his client was not a decent and honest man and should not become prime minister.

The Pheu Thai Party recently announced it would nominate Mr Srettha to the joint parliament as its candidate for prime minister.

Mr Chuvit implied land sale tax evasion in Sansiri’s purchase of 400 square wah of land on Sarasin Road in Bangkok in August 2019, when Mr Srettha was still CEO.

Mr Chuvit implied that Mr Srettha and Sansiri colluded with the landowners to evade 521 million baht in taxes on the developer’s purchase of the prime block of land.

The reported purchase price was 1.57 billion baht, nearly 4 million baht per square wah (4 square metres).

He said Mr Srettha signed off on the purchase and sale agreement with the 12 people who owned the land under one title deed. The 12 owners formed an “ordinary partnership”, under which each one would be liable for excise tax on the proceeds of the sale, a total of 521 million baht, according to Mr Chuvit.

To avoid such a huge tax payment, Mr Chuvit said, each of the 12 individuals went to the Department of Land to transfer small sections of the land to Sansiri, taking 12 days to complete the process. These transactions were not subject to the same tax treatment as an ordinary partnership.

According to Mr Chuvit, only 59.2 million baht in taxes were paid on the transaction.

On Monday Mr Srettha’s lawyer, Mr Winyat, said the previous landowners did not have to pay tax as an ordinary partnership because they acquired individual ownership of sections of the land and then sold them individually to Sansiri. As a result, the sellers were subject to personal income tax, the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Mr Chuvit said he had more issues he could raise concerning Mr Srettha, who as a candidate for prime minister should welcome the examination of his qualifications.

Separately, activist Rueangkrai Leekitwatana has asked a senate committee to look into the same land purchase by Sansiri.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has ordered authorities to track down those responsible for the oil slicks and tar balls found on several beaches in Phuket last Friday.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) and Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) are investigating the source of the slicks seen on Nai Yang, Mai Khao, Nai Thon and Layan beaches on the island’s northwest, he said.

Mr Varawut said the actions of irresponsible business operators are threatening to harm the environment, which had just recovered from the negative impact of mass tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic.

State agencies including the Marine Department and Tourism Ministry should urge business operators to conduct themselves responsibly to prevent long-term damage to nature and the country’s reputation as a tourist destination.

Puripat Thirakulpisut, deputy director-general of the Marine Department, said authorities believe the slicks were bunker fuel used by marine vessels.

Out of the four beaches affected by the slicks, Mai Khao beach, was the most severely affected, he said, noting the slicks affected a 10-square-kilometre area.

The department will lodge a complaint with police today, so investigators can begin tracking down the offending vessel, said Mr Puripat.

The offenders face a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht and they will be ordered to pay for rehabilitation costs, he added.

According to Mr Puripat, the marine office in Phuket is gathering information about vessels passing the western side of Phuket from the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) system in the Andaman Sea. Authorities launched a big clean-up operation over the weekend.

The Department of Airports (DoA) is planning to upgrade Hua Hin Airport into an international airport to boost tourism.

Rattapol Charoenphon, acting director of Hua Hin Airport, on Sunday said the airport, operated by the DoA, recently expanded its runway to 2.1 kilometres long and 60m wide to accommodate Airbus A320 aircraft.

The airport also has parking bays for three of the aircraft, he added.

Currently, Thai AirAsia is the only airline that provides a one-stop service between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai three times a week.

Mr Rattapol said the airport wants to serve international flights, and to do so, it needs to improve safety around the airport by building additional infrastructure, including expanding the traffic tunnel on Phetkasem Road, about 1km from the airport, and the airport train tunnel. The safe zone around the airport will also be improved to meet International Civil Aviation Organisation standards, he said.

He said the DoA has a company in mind for the safety expansion project. It will need approval from the Transport Ministry, which must also forward the budget request to the Budget Bureau, he said. The project will need 600 days to complete after the contract is signed.

In the meantime, the airport is also conducting a study on its options to expand facilities, he said, adding meetings with commercial airlines were planned to learn about their concerns.

A report is expected this year before it is submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand for the approval of a licence to operate an international airport.

Earlier, Nopasit Chakpitak, president of Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, held a seminar on guidelines to develop Hua Hin Airport to accommodate more aircraft as part of a plan to spur tourism in the province.

Currently, Hua Hin Airport handles about 30,000 private jets a year, so it has the potential to grow, he said.

Wassana Srikanchana, president of the Hua Hin Cha Am Tourism Business Association, said Hua Hin Airport has great potential as it is relatively close to Bangkok, adding having an international airport in Hua Hin will help bring in tourists and stimulate the economy of Prachuap Khiri Khan and nearby Phetchaburi.

Online goods and service purchase scams, particularly ones involving fake restaurant reservations, cost more than 140 million baht in damages to consumers in July, the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) warned on Sunday.

The most common form of scam reported to the CCIB’s online complaint centre was fake buffet-table reservations during special days and public holidays, said CCIB spokesman Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen.

These scams normally involved a fake Facebook account that claimed to be that of a well-known hotel or restaurant which was used to lure diners into believing they were being offered a promotion, he said.

These pages were found to be either newly opened or existing ones with a huge number of followers, he said, adding that in one case where it was an existing Facebook page, its name was changed to dupe victims into believing it really belonged to a popular hotel or restaurant.

Paid booster posts were then used to find potential victims who look for hotel or restaurant deals online and making bookings, he said.

As soon as these victims transferred a reservation fee to an account providded by the page admins, customers were not able to contact them again, he said.

Altogether online scams involving fake goods and service purchases were found to be the most common category of internet-based scams reported to the CCIB in July.

Police are looking for those responsible for the bombings which took place in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district and Yala’s Muang district on Saturday night.

No one was hurt by the blast in Sungai Kolok, but the explosion in Yala injured two passers-by, police said yesterday.

The injured victims were identified as Phimlaphat Silarot, 22, and Sapina Samaeng, 22.

They were taken to a nearby hospital following the blast, and as of yesterday both were still there, police said, before adding the pair told investigators that they noticed nothing unusual prior to the blast.

Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units have combed the area for evidence.

The blast in Narathiwat, meanwhile, happened about 40 metres from a temporary security checkpoint in Moo 1, tambon Pasemat in Sungai Kolok district.

Investigators believe the bombing was carried out by multiple suspects, each with a different role, said Pol Col Pratchaya Baite, chief of Sungai Kolok police.

The first team drove the car containing the improvised explosives to a railroad crossing near the checkpoint. They were followed by a second team, which shot at the checkpoint to cause confusion.

The third team, meanwhile, picked up the first team after they parked the car at the crossing.

However, only one of the two bombs in the car, believed to have been made in neighbouring Malaysia, exploded, he said. The other fell off the car as a result of the explosion and landed on the rail track.

The undetonated bomb was retrieved by an EOD team yesterday morning, he said.

The police were also looking for the owner of the Songkhla-registered Toyota used in the bombing, he said, adding the vehicle wasn’t reported missing.

Party ‘must wait’ for resolution before joining Pheu Thai bloc

Two former Democrat leaders on Sunday opposed the party’s plan to join the Pheu Thai-led coalition, as it again failed to elect a new executive board and leader due to a lack of quorum.

Chuan Leekpai, who served as House speaker in the previous administration, said the party needs to issue a resolution if it wants to be a part of a coalition, adding the decisions of individual members do not reflect the party’s decision.

He said the time wasn’t right for the party to begin discussions about which coalition to join, but the issue kept coming up because several Democrat members have been seen meeting Pheu Thai key figures to negotiate cabinet post allocations.

“When individual members act on their own, it’s their private matter. If it’s a party matter, the board must adopt a resolution and no one should do anything that goes against it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Banyat Bantadtan, another former Democrat leader, said the party should focus on rebuilding party rather than joining the government. “Once we have a new leader and a new executive board, I’ll ask them to consider this idea,” he said.

Mr Banyat also noted that Democrat members have to consider the party’s stance on the so-called Thaksin regime when considering whether to join the Pheu Thai-led coalition.

Separately, acting Democrat leader Jurin Laksanawisit insisted on Sunday the party’s new executive board will decide on the matter. “We shouldn’t rush into making a decision,” he said.

It remains to be seen when the Democrats will get a new leader, after the second attempt to find Mr Jurin’s successor failed on Sunday.

The special assembly began at 9.30am but the turnout was low. When the meeting opened, party director Sutham Rahong said only 210 members signed in, 40 short of the quorum. After an hour of waiting, only 13 more showed up, so the meeting was cancelled.

Chalermchai Sri-on, acting party secretary-general, condemned party members who chose not to show up to Sunday’s meeting, saying they disrespected the rules and undermined the party’s unity.

Conservatives will betray you: Wiroj

The Move Forward Party (MFP) has urged Pheu Thai (PT) to reverse its decision to end their political alliance, initially forged with an aim for them to work together in forming a new coalition government.

In a Facebook post intended for Pheu Thai, MFP list-MP Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn referred to Pheu Thai as a friend who was being lured into jumping ship by the conservative camp.

“Mate, don’t ever get in a car with them. They will trick you into travelling to the mountain top where you will eventually be gunned down. Run away and return to the ship real quick. We’re waiting for you here,” he wrote.

When the MFP and Pheu Thai were together in the eight-party alliance, they together had 312 MP seats in hand, while the conservative camp only has 188 MPs, said Mr Wiroj.

And even if counting altogether only the number of MFP and Pheu Thai MPs, the total number of MPs the two parties had together still was as high as 292, meaning they would have a better chance to win over the conservative side in all respects, he said.

And even though MFP and Pheu Thai might find it hard to win a prime ministerial vote needing substantial support from the Senate, the two parties would still have exceptional strength to wrestle with the conservative camp in parliament if they remain united, he said.

Mr Wiroj said he believed Pheu Thai must have been offered a persuasive deal before they decided to go their own way last Wednesday.

Now that Pheu Thai and the MFP are apart, Pheu Thai should be aware that it only has 141 MPs in hand while the conservative camp has 188 MPs, meaning that Pheu Thai’s negotiating power has dropped dramatically as it seeks to form the new government, said Mr Wiroj.

That leaves the door open for the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and the United Thai Nation Party (UTN) to become a part of the Pheu Thai-led coalition, particularly due to their influence over some senators, he said.

Pheu Thai also is also now losing support from the red-shirt United Front for Democracy (UDD) which supported the party for a long time until it broke away from the pro-democracy camp, he said.

Mr Wiroj also said he was wondering if Pheu Thai is afraid of losing its justification for continuing to lead the formation of the new government if it fails to gain Senate support and loses the prime ministerial vote.

“Don’t they ever wonder whether the mountaintop which they are being taken to is actually an execution ground?” asked Mr Wiroj.

In the best-case scenario, even if Pheu Thai succeeds in forming the new coalition, it won’t have much power as that will be in the hands of the conservative camp, said Mr Wiroj.

Prof Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, a political science scholar with Chulalongkorn University, however, labelled Mr Wiroj’s call remarks as sarcasm intended to insult.

Nevertheless, in her view, it would still be better for Pheu Thai to become an opposition party as that will help it keep its support from voters.

Anusorn Iamsa-ard, a Pheu Thai list-MP, cited the latest update from the its negotiating team, as he argued the party still has a strong hand.

Forming a coalition government is never easy and Pheu Thai won’t be pressured to accept any conditions it can’t really come to terms with, Mr Anusorn said.

“Pheu Thai remains firm in its stance that Gen Prayut [Chan-o-cha] and Gen Prawit [Wongsuwon] must not be a part of the new coalition the party is forming,” he said.

In another development, political activist and former senator Ruangkrai Leekitwattana said he will petition the Senate to look into alleged tax evasion by property developer Sansiri in August 2019 when Srettha Thavisin was its president.

Political activist Chuvit Kamolvisit last week pointed out that Sansiri paid only 59.2 million baht in tax for a transaction instead of the 521 million baht required.

Mr Srettha is Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate and will be nominated for the prime ministerial vote in parliament.

The owners of the fireworks warehouse in Narathiwat which exploded last weekend were charged in relation to the blast upon returning to the country on Sunday.

The couple, Sompong Napol, 42, and Piyanuch Puengwirawat, 42, returned from Malaysia via the Sadao checkpoint after a court issued a warrant for their arrest in connection with the July 29 explosion in tambon Muno, Sungai Kolok district.

The blast saw 12 people killed, 121 injured and 292 houses damaged.

The couple were taken to Muang police station to acknowledge the charges, which include negligence causing deaths, importing and/or selling fireworks without a permit and violating the Emergency Decree for the Southern region, said Pol Maj Gen Anurut Eimarb, commander of Narathiwat Provincial Police.

Ms Piyanuch was also charged with expanding a building without a permit, as the warehouse was not registered with authorities, he added.

The couple will be remanded until the prosecution submits their case to the court, he said, adding they face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht for their actions.

Separately, Chayapol Saitawee, director of the Southern Border Provinces Operation Centre (SBPOC) under the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said the DSI is considering taking over the case, as it involves the violation of many laws, including the Hazardous Substances Act, Customs Law, the Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Fireworks Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

The SBPOC will ask the DSI director general to invoke Section 23/1 of the Special Case Investigation Act today to launch its own investigation, Mr Chayapol said.

Asked to explain how the couple violated the Anti-Money Laundering Act, he said it would be impossible for the couple to transport such large amounts of fireworks without any authorities knowing.

SBPOC has also asked the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit to check if the area around the blast site contained traces of explosives not commonly used in fireworks production.

“Judging from the two huge craters at the site, I think the blast wasn’t caused by fireworks alone,” he said.