By Thai Newsroom Reporters
IN WHAT WAS SEEN as a surprise withdrawal, former deputy police chief Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn has changed his mind to no longer wage a legal battle against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
Pol. Gen. Surachate yesterday (Apr. 23) withdrew his complaint which he had filed yesterday with the National Anti-Corruption Commission to accuse the Pheu Thai-backed prime minister of perpetrating power abuse by having earlier named Pol. Gen. Torsak Sukwimon as police chief and by deposing him from the post of deputy police chief in the face of money laundering charges allegedly involving kickbacks from illegal online gambling operators.
Pol. Gen. Surachate was only quoted as saying he had decidedly had “no doubts” about the prime minister’s acts which may be evidently affecting him and finally had his lawyer withdraw his complaint.
Nevertheless, the NACC is yet obliged to investigate allegations of power abuse committed by the prime minister following a petition earlier lodged by former police chief Seripisut Temiyavej, said NACC secretary-general Niwatichai Kasemmongkol.
The prime minister had ordered for acting police chief Pol. Gen. Kittrat Panpet to immediately remove Pol. Gen. Surachate from the post of deputy police chief for fear of the possibility that he might otherwise tamper one way or another with personal or material witnesses during the investigation.
Srettha had set up an ad hoc committee headed by former undersecretary for interior Chatchai Promlert to look into the money laundering scandals surrounding both Pol. Gen. Torsak and Pol. Gen. Surachate after millions of baht in cash from “horse-accounts” had been allegedly funnelled from online gambling operators to their former subordinate officers and relatives on monthly basis.
Pol. Gen. Torsak and Pol. Gen. Surachate had been earlier suspended from duty and transferred to inactive posts at Government House pending fact-finding investigation into the money laundering charges filed against the both of them.
However, the maverick Pol. Gen. Surachate invariably contended that he had been unduly persecuted by his detractors who, he said, would only look to keep him from being finally promoted as police chief.
In a power play scenario, the deposed deputy police chief had been earlier seen approaching de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict on parole Thaksin Shinawatra at the latter’s Chan Song Lah house in Bangkok and a resort house in the premises of a golf course in Chiang Mai where Srettha, Pheu Thai ministers and MPs had eagerly shown up.
CAPTION:
Top: Former deputy police chief Pol. Gen. Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, left, and Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, right.
Front Page: Pol. Gen. Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn. Both photos: Thai Rath
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