B6.9m in cash seized amid bribery probe
Authorities have seized for examination almost 7 million baht in cash, as well as documents from a senior Bangkok district official charged with demanding a bribe from a real estate company, police said.
A task force comprising police, anti-graft officials and anti-money-laundering officers searched the house of Pramual Saengkaewsri, 57, head of the Ratchathewi district office revenue section, on Wednesday evening for further evidence following his arrest on Tuesday.
They found cash totalling 6.9 million baht in one of his cars and large amounts of documents related to suspected bribes in his house. They were confiscated by investigators.
Mr Pramual was caught with an envelope containing 3.2 million baht in cash in the car park of a hotel in the Phaya Thai area of Ratchathewi district on Tuesday. He denied any wrongdoing and told police he thought the envelope contained only documents.
Mr Pramual, who was charged with demanding or receiving a bribe and malfeasance in office in violation of Section 157 of the Criminal Code, was released on bail worth 400,000 baht after being questioned by police.
The arrest was made after he allegedly solicited a bribe from a real estate company in exchange for helping it avoid paying building and land taxes totalling 40 million baht. The company’s management reported the matter to the Anti-Corruption Division (ACD).
Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew, commander of the ACD, said anti-money laundering authorities requested the house search after learning Mr Pramual had worked as head of the Phaya Thai district office revenue section.
He said the investigation would be expanded because the seized documents showed there were several others who might have been involved in extortion. Police will trace the suspect’s financial transactions and interview anyone involved.
“We’ve found a notebook that appears to contain bribe payments. There are eight people involved and the minimum payment is six digits. We’ll find out where the money went and if any high-ranking officials were involved,” he said.
The case will be forwarded to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) when completed.
A source close to the Ratchathewi district office said there are 15 officials in the revenue section, which is in charge of collecting four types of local taxes. The district, which covers 7.7 square kilometres containing several shopping malls, hotels and condominiums, collected 300 million baht in local taxes in 2022.
City Hall’s local tax collection from last October to March 24 is estimated at 9.6 billion baht, but only 916 million baht was collected.
Of the 7.71 billion baht believed collected from land and building taxes, only 153 million baht was recorded.