Big-name fraud wave shocks

Police culture under scrutiny as clean-up push begins, write Wassayos Ngamkham and Supoj Wancharoen

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Mana: Apex of the pyramid Winai: Off-the-books payments Krisanaphong: Values-training

he intensified campaign to expose wrongdoing within the police force, led by former deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn and Atchariya Ruangratanapong, president of the Crime Victims Assistance Club, has become a major point of public interest.

Their revelations carry weight, as Pol Gen Surachate is considered an insider who has in-depth information that outsiders would rarely be able to uncover.

Whether these efforts will genuinely resolve longstanding issues involving protection rackets, illegal gambling, underground casinos and foreign criminal networks — in which police of various ranks are alleged to be involved — or whether this is merely a campaign to generate publicity, attack rivals or exact revenge before eventually fading away, as has happened in the past, remains to be seen.

BIG-NAME INVOLVEMENT

Mana Nimitmongkol, president of the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, said Thailand has failed to suppress online scammers, illegal gambling, grey-market conglomerates, and money laundering because “big-name’ figures in politics and the civil service form the apex of a pyramid profiting from bribes within these criminal networks.

As a result, enforcement efforts only manage to catch minor offenders, creating the appearance of action without addressing the systemic problem.

“The most shocking news is that ministers, MPs, former police chiefs, and over 200 other officers are involved in online gambling, drug trafficking, underground businesses, and corruption. This revelation has been reinforced by the exposés of Pol Gen Surachate,’ he said.