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BKK POST: Probe panel begins to tak
- Subject: BKK POST: Probe panel begins to tak
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 05:04:00
February 19, 1998
Probe panel begins
to take shape
Yuwadee Tunyasiri and Anucha Charoenpo
The government's joint committee to investigate the Salween
logging scandal is expected to take shape today, Prime Minister
Chuan Leekpai said yesterday.
Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart had been told to assign
Permanent Secretary for Interior Chanasak Yuwaboon to the
committee.
The officials will be made chairman of the panel to be made up
of representatives of the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry,
the Customs Department, the PM's Office and relevant agencies,
he said.
The committee will conduct a full-scale investigation directed at
all persons involved in logging at Salween national park. Police
chief Pracha Promnok will lead investigators to look for evidence
at the park.
Pol Gen Pracha said the team was not a special task force but a
police unit specialising in in-depth investigation. It would delve
into the logging trade in which many state officials are said to be
key players.
The police chief said Seri Temiyavej, the Central Investigation
Bureau commissioner, was working on the case and was
expected to report to him on the progress in his investigation
soon.
Pol Lt-Gen Seri had been assigned to probe the five-million-baht
bribe given to Prawat Thanadkha, the Forestry Department
deputy chief, who sparked a call for action in the Salween.
Pol Gen Pracha declined to comment on reports that Maj-Gen
Sanan has ordered Pol Gen Salang Bunnag be investigated for
negligence over allegations he tolerated logging. The deputy
police chief heads an anti-deforestation task force which
supervises national forests.
If a disciplinary probe was to be set up, the charge against those
targeted, who might include Pol Gen Salang, must be made
clear.
Mr Prawat yesterday went to Government House for a meeting
but denied he was trying to clear himself over the bribe he took
to donate to the Thai-help-Thai Foundation last week.
If he had wanted to keep the money he would not have taken it
to Government House, he said. He decided to hand over the
money because the person who gave it to him might blackmail
him. Mr Prawat declined to name that person because he could
be sued.
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Last Modified: Thu, Feb 19, 1998