THE JURISTIC chairman and manager of a luxury housing estate in Bangkok’s Bang Khun Thian district were arrested yesterday (Sep. 5) on charges of bribing officials much to the relief of residents who have been living in fear for years with some of them even beaten up, Naewna newspaper said.
Pol. Col. Phermwut Pratumrat, superintendent of Central investigatin Bureau’s Anti-Corruption Division, led a team in raiding and arresting the four suspects.
First to be raided was a residence in Khunalai Village belonging to Mr. Alongkorn Suksai, 58, chairman of this housing estate’s juristic person committee on charges of supporting a public official in dereliction of duty and corruption.
Another team then arrested Ms. Nipaporn Chadangwong, 38, the juristic manager whose house is also in this estate on similar charges.
Two officials, Mr. Yodchai Noppraphan, 51, and Mr. Chanwit Wattanaphan, 48, surrendered to police in the afternoon to face these charges after hearing about the arrest of the jurisdic person duo.
Their arrest stemmed from illegally using a government hydraulic waste compactor to compress and transport large tree branches from the housing estate with this working out to be cheaper than hiring six-wheel trucks making multiple trips to clear the waste with the suspects pocketing the money they saved through this scheme.
Using a hydraulic waste compactor to compress and remove large branches seriously risked damaging the vehicle as it was designed to compress general waste not branches.
Residents of this luxury estate said ever since Alongkorn became the chairman of the juristic person committee in 2015 he has been quarrelling with them and had frequently fabricated expenses to withdraw cash from common funds for personal use.
In the past if any of them demanded an audit of common funds or questioned the housing estate management, Alongkorn would refuse to cooperate and instead withdrew more funds to hire lawyers to sue them for defamation, thus silencing them.
To date over 10 residents have been sued by the housing estate juristic person with some having been stalked, threatened, hit by vehicles or physically attacked in the office with this leading to them living in fear.
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Police arresting one of the suspects while residents protest. Photos: Naewna
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