PUBLISHED : 28 Feb 2024 at 04:00
A fact-finding probe will be launched in response to a media report involving the alleged sexual molestation of a female prosecutor by a senior prosecutor and an unfair transfer, the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) says.
Watcharin Phanurat, a spokesman of the OAG, revealed at a press conference held yesterday that the OAG had not received a complaint from the female prosecutor but rather had learned about the scandal from media reports.
The accused was identified in the news report as a deputy attorney-general, so the OAG would have to conduct the fact-finding investigation before it could address questions surrounding the sexual scandal and the allegedly unfair transfer.
The scandal broke out on Feb 23 when a 37-year-old prosecutor filed a complaint with police at Thalang station in Phuket claiming she had been sexually molested by a senior prosecutor when they met in Bangkok on Feb 19.
According to the complaint, the pair went to have dinner at a seafood restaurant in Wang Thong Lang district in Bangkok. At some point, the senior prosecutor hugged her without her consent, encouraged her to drink wine and invited her to his newly-built home in Ramkhamhaeng.
After they finished dinner at 8.40pm the senior prosecutor insisted on visiting his house and asked her to accompany him in his car. She felt unable to refuse due to his seniority.
While inside the car, the senior prosecutor put his arm around her and asked to kiss her cheek. She told him to back off, upon which he told her to exit the vehicle before driving off.
The woman claimed the incident upset the senior prosecutor, who later told a meeting that she had a history of demanding kickbacks.
The woman said she had subsequently been transferred to a position that she did not request, which she considered a form of harassment.