Seven officials at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have been arrested for alleged corruption in fake repairs made to five buses at a cost of 2.8 million baht.
Their apprehension followed the inspection of a repair garage on Wednesday morning by senior officials including Phumwisan Kasemsuk, secretary-general of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew, head of the police Counter Corruption Division (CCD).
The garage in Saphan Sung district had supposedly made repairs to five BMA buses.
The seven officials in the sports division of the BMA culture, sports and tourism department were arrested shortly afterwards on warrants issued by the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases.
Six of them surrendered to police at the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng district of Bangkok and the other one was apprehended in front of his house.
The arrests came after the State Audit Office (SAO) found alleged irregularities in the repair of five air-conditioned buses, each with 45-50 seats, operated by the sports division of the BMA.
It examined financial documents the agency had submitted for repairs it claimed were made to the five vehicles between 2022 and 2024, but the buses had not been sent for repair 11 times.
The seven officials had allegedly falsified documents for the repairs. The SAO asked anti-corruption officials to investigate further.
The PACC subsequently found 17 more fake repairs, bringing the total to 28 and, the losses to the city at 2.79 million baht.
On Nov 22 last year, the BMA assigned officials to file a corruption complaint with police against the seven officials.
Counter corruption investigators brought together the evidence to support a successful application for arrest warrants.
The seven officials are charged with dereliction of duty and certifying false documents for the fake repairs.
The officials — five men and two women — were identified as: Damrong Ruensuk, former director of the Sports Division; three sports development officials Phumin, Khomkrit and Apinan, procurement official Athinya; Sirikanya, a senior administrative official; and Suchawadee, a procurement specialist. Their surnames were not given.
Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat said an eighth official — Naphin Chaiyathip, 47 — was involved but he shot himself to death early this year.
During initial questioning, all seven suspects denied the charges. They were held in police custody for further questioning.
A source said the investigation also found that the suspects were in the same group of BMA officials who were earlier investigated for alleged corruption in the procurement of gym equipment. Some of the equipment was purchased at 2-3 times the going market price.
The BMA announced in January that no evidence of collusion in corruption had been found in the case of the gym equipment.
Anti-corruption officials and police arrive at the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng district of Bangkok to receive suspects accused of corruption in fake repairs made to five buses at a cost of 2.8 million baht. (Photo: Central Investigation Bureau)