The Royal Thai Police has set up a special team to probe the alleged manipulation of bidding prices by two companies owned by Praween Chanklai, aka "Kamnan Nok", a key suspect in last week's killing of a highway police officer.
The team comprises officials from the Revenue Department, Comptroller General's Department and State Audit Office, Anti-Money Laundering Office, Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission, said deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn on Thursday.
Since 2011, P Phatanarungrod Construction Co and P Raweekanok Construction Co, which are both owned by Mr Praween, have been awarded concessions in 1,544 government projects, with a combined value of 7.57 billion baht, said Department of Special Investigation (DSI) director-general Pol Maj Suriya Singhakamol.
Pol Col Anek Taosupap, deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), said a team of inspectors raided three spots in Nakhon Pathom on Thursday, including an accounting firm which has worked for Mr Praween's family for the past two decades, as part of their probe into the collusion concerns.
The CSD seized a number of financial documents relating to the two companies in the raid, said Pol Col Anek.
Pol Gen Surachate, meanwhile, said investigators have retrieved footage erased from 13 security cameras, believed to show scenes from last week's shooting at Mr Praween's home, which resulted in the death of Pol Maj Sivakorn Saibua, an officer of Highway Police Division 2, in Nakhon Pathom.
The police, however, were still working on two other cameras. Pol Gen Surachate expects the process to wrap up sometime later today.