BANGKOK, April 16 (TNA) – Justice Minister and DSI on Wednesday jointly questioned an engineer who earlier filed a complaint after discovering that his name and signature have allegedly been forged on documents identifying him as the construction supervisor for SAO collapsed building.
Somkiat Chusangsuk, Chairman of the Engineer Clinic under the Engineering Institute of Thailand who is also a senator in environmental engineer branch meets the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) investigators to testified after discovering that his name and signature have allegedly been forged on documents identifying him as the construction supervisor.
The documents are linked to the PKW Joint Venture—comprising P.N. Synchronize Co., Ltd., V. & Sahai Consultants Co., Ltd., and KP Consultants Co., Ltd.—which is contracted to supervise the construction of the State Audit Office (SAO) headquarters. The 30-storey SAO building collapsed on March 28, following a powerful earthquake in Myanmar. Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong personally attended the session to observe the proceedings.
Mr Somkiat claimed that he was not the supervising engineer for the SAO building project and he is not involved in the collapsed building but his name was falsely used.
He has already filed a complaint with Wang Thonglang Police Station. He said he did not yet know who is responsible for the forgery. However, he would reconsider whether to file complaint for the compensation.
Mr Somkiat stated he has not overseen any construction work for over 20 years and that the Council of Engineers can verify this.
Mr Tawee said that Mr Somkiat would submit his authentic signature for forensic analysis, which would be compared to the one found in the disputed documents.
The minister also noted that, typically, government construction projects involved either the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning or the Fine Arts Department as the design authority.
However, in the SAO building project, neither of these agencies was involved in the design as the design cannot be completed within 180 days under the time frame required – leading to the hiring of a private firm instead.
While outsourcing design work is not unusual, authorities discovered that the lead designer was 85 years old, raising additional questions now subject to investigation.
The investigators would gather evidences and witnesses and request the information from the Council of Engineers and the court to quickly resolve the case.
DSI Deputy Director-General Pol Lt Surawut Rangsai said that today’s information contributes to a broader investigation involving Thai nationals suspected of acting as nominee shareholders for China Railway No. 10, the subcontractor for the project.
The information from Mr Somkait would be one of the jigsaws to link the case together. He noted that the alleged document forgery was a key piece of evidence that helps connect the dots, indicating possible misconduct throughout the project. The document forgery would be investigated whether it involved with other previous construction projects.
Pol Maj Waranan Srilam, DSI’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Crime Director said about the progress of the investigation on the hazardous red dust found at steel factory and sub-standard steel bars used in the collapsed SAO building.
He said the Department of Industrial Works sent the letter requesting the cooperation for the red dust investigation on April 12 and it is under the consideration of DSI director general for giving the approval.
As for the sub-standard steel bars, the Thai Industrial Standards Institute and DSI jointly collected samples at the site. If the samples found sub-standard, more charges will be filed. (TNA).-813
