The anti-graft agency Monday decided to recommend bribery charges against four or five Thai officials who allegedly demanded about 20-million-baht in bribes from a Japanese company which delivered equipment by sea to build a gas-fired power plant in Nakhon Si Thammarat five years ago.
Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), said the NACC decided to recommend the charges against the local officials after its probe panel saw pictures of them demanding the bribe taken by the Japanese firm.
Pol Gen Watcharapol did not go into details of the investigation. He did not disclose who was among the parties accused of demanding the bribe.
But Surasak Keereevichien, a member of the NACC, said a Marine Department official, a local politician, a village headman, and a marine officer are among the parties accused of demanding the bribe.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd (MHPS) which transported the equipment, took photos of the officials who received the payments, said to be about 20 million baht.
The case reached the Japanese anti-graft agency which asked the NACC to investigate as the matter involved Thai officials.
The alleged graft came to light after Japanese media reported that prosecutors in Japan had reached a plea deal with a major power equipment supplier accused of bribing public servants in Thailand. The agreement with the Yokohama-based MHPS was the first of its kind.
MHPS was awarded a 30-billion-baht contract by the government in February 2013 to supply machinery to the power plant.