Public trust takes a knock

Public trust takes a knock

Seehanat Prayoonrat, former secretary-general, former adviser to Amlo, was always in on the hottest cases, and now including his own. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard)
Seehanat Prayoonrat, former secretary-general, former adviser to Amlo, was always in on the hottest cases, and now including his own. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard)

A large step back from public trust occurred last week. It is difficult to say which situation is worse, that the government has moved the country's financial crime-fighting guru in a high-profile investigation, or that it took more than a year to do it. Either way, the decision to move to the PM's Office the Anti-Money Laundering Office former chief Seehanat Prayoonrat is a shock. Authorities must explain the details.

The short version is already known. No less than Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has decided Pol Col Seehanat may be "linked" to the country's most sensational continuing criminal case. That is the embezzling of at least 11.3 billion baht from the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC), followed by the appearance of large amounts of that money in the coffers of Wat Phra Dhammakaya.

The embezzlement is the biggest single case of theft ever recorded in the country. It destroyed or hurt thousands of people, first and foremost KCUC members. The chairman of the credit union, Supachai Srisupa-aksorn made white-collar robbery look simple. As head of KCUC, he simply wrote 878 cheques and withdrew the money. He is serving a sentence of 16 years.

Then billions were transferred to the religious group. It allegedly passed through or stuck to the Dhammakaya sect's founder and controller, Phra Dhammajayo. Warrants are out for the fugitive monk's arrest, including on money-laundering charges.

The criminal investigation of the links between KCUC on one hand and the temple and the founding monk on the other were handled mostly by Amlo. When they began in 2014, Pol Col Seehanat had been head of Amlo for more than five years, following a stint as acting head. He was known to control the agency and its investigations with an iron hand and, as they say, "brooked no nonsense" from others within Amlo. But events were unravelling for the former anti-narcotics policeman turned white-collar crime fighter.

In March of last year, a decision taken by the full cabinet removed Pol Col Seehanat as secretary-general of Amlo. But it left him at the agency, in a newly created position as adviser. The decision carried no explanation and spokesmen refused to give one.

Last week, finally acting on evidence that emerged last year to investigators, Prime Minister Prayut signed an order to move Pol Col Seehanat out of Amlo altogether. Aside from the suspicion he is linked to the KCUC-Dhammakaya financial crimes, the prime minister feared Pol Col Seehanat would interfere with the ongoing investigation. He is now officially a senior adviser to the prime minister, working directly under the supervision of Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.

It is beyond ironic, then, that it was Amlo warning the public last week to beware of scams. There are serious questions of governance and independent agencies at stake. Pol Col Seehanat brags he has been personally responsible for the seizure of billions of baht in cash and assets from people he judged as wrongdoers. All of those cases now may be considered tainted.

Pol Col Seehanat says he has not been transferred but assigned to work as a senior adviser to the prime minister on a temporary basis. Mr Wissanu says around 30 smaller cases have been under investigation as part of the KCUC embezzlement case, one of which was linked to Pol Col Seehanat while he served as Amlo secretary-general.

Amlo has enormous powers to intimidate and to make or break lives. This case again brings up the question about independent agencies: Who will watch the watchers?

Editorial

Bangkok Post editorial column

These editorials represent Bangkok Post thoughts about current issues and situations.

Email : anchaleek@bangkokpost.co.th

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