The decision to reduce the thickness of the walls of the elevator shafts at the new State Audit Office (SAO) building contributed to the building’s collapse, according to Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong.
Pol Col Tawee said investigators are particularly concerned about the lift shafts’ walls, as they are significantly thinner than those built in other, comparable buildings.
Typically, he said, a shaft’s walls should be about 60 centimetres thick, but the ones at the SAO building were about 25cm thick.
Pol Col Tawee said a team of engineers has been assembled to conduct a thorough investigation to determine if the reduced thickness of the walls played a role in the building’s collapse.
The building’s original blueprints will be examined as part of this process, he said.
As the contractor responsible for the project — China Railway No.10 (Thailand) — is a subsidiary of a state-owned company, Chinese authorities have been involved in the handling of the disaster.
They noted the project followed the blueprints submitted by the SAO, which were drafted by Thai engineers.
According to Pol Col Tawee, Chinese authorities are cooperating with investigators.
He said they have sent experts to simulate the collapse, examine the soil structure around the construction site, and allocated funds to compensate victims of the disaster.
Separately, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said the three Thai executives of China Railway No.10 (Thailand) have turned themselves in to the police.
The trio, identified as Manas Sri-anan, Prachuap Sirikhet, and Sophon Meechai, are accused of acting as illegal Thai nominees for Chinese stakeholders in the company.
A Chinese shareholder, identified as Zhang Chuanling, was arrested on Saturday at a hotel in Bangkok’s Ratchadaphisek neighbourhood.
He told investigators that while he owns 49% of the company’s shares, he was unaware of how the Thai shareholders came to be involved with the company.
His legal team is expected to push for his release on bail.
Investigators are also probing a two-billion-baht loan issued by the Thai shareholders to fund the construction project, according to the DSI.
The DSI is investigating whether they had the financial means to issue such a loan, it said.
The department also rejected claims that the efforts to collect evidence from the site of the building collapse were delayed.
In a related development, a lawyer representing Xin Ke Yuan Steel Co, which supplied steel for the SAO building project, plans to appeal the revocation of the investment promotion privileges provided by the Board of Investment (BoI) for its steel billet plant in Rayong.
The revocation follows several safety and quality concerns, including a recent explosion at the Rayong plant and allegations of substandard steel.
