KMITL closes three accounts with SCB

KMITL closes three accounts with SCB

The King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) yesterday closed three bank accounts it had held with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB).

Employees of the King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) show their passbooks before they proceed to close their accounts with the Siam Commercial Bank in an apparent boycott of the bank which is accused of failing to fully cooperate with police in an investigation into the KMITL's 1.58-billion-baht embezzlement scandal. Somchai Poomlard

The move was part of the institute's campaign to boycott the bank for allegedly failing to fully and swiftly cooperate with police investigating the KMITL's 1.58-billion-baht embezzlement scandal.

The move came after the university made at least eight formal requests to the bank to provide police with important documents pertaining to details of the alleged dishonest transactions allowed via the bank's services.

The transactions had caused about 1.5 billion baht of the university money to be stolen by suspects who included a former branch manager of the SCB, the KMITL said.

The money withdrawn yesterday from the three SCB accounts amounted to about 52 million baht in total, Asst Prof Phaophak Sirisuk, acting deputy KMITL rector for finance, said yesterday.

The university also announced it will stop paying its staff and conducting any more transactions through the SCB, effective March 1.

The university's requests for the SCB to supply financial documents to the police have not been fully responded to. Less than half of the documents have been handed to investigators so far, said Assoc Prof Chamroon Laosinwattana, acting deputy rector for legal affairs.

The first request was submitted to the SCB on Jan 5, he said.

The requested documents are crucial because they hold information as to who was actually involved in the embezzlement scheme and at what stages of the transactions the fraud had been committed, he said.

Prof Monai Krairiksh, acting rector of the KMITL, said the university was highly concerned that the suspects already arrested in the embezzlement case will not be indicted and that they might be released before their detention periods expire. 

As the police still have not received all the necessary documents from the SCB, the university administration is also concerned authorities will have no choice but release the suspects once their detention periods expire, he said.

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