BANGKOK (AP) — A construction magnate, builders, designers and engineers surrendered to police Friday on criminal negligence charges for the deadly collapse of a Bangkok high-rise in the March 28 earthquake that hit Myanmar.
Premchai Karnasuta, the president of Italian-Thai Development Co, the main Thai contractor for the building project, as well as designers and engineers were among 17 charged with the felony of professional negligence causing death, Bangkok deputy police chief Noppasin Poonsawat said.
Noppasin said those who met police on Friday formally denied the charges. Several have previously issued public denials in response to allegations in the media.
Ninety-two people were confirmed dead in the rubble of the building that had been under construction and a small number of other people remain unaccounted for. The building, which was to become a new State Audit Office, was the only one in Thailand to collapse in the earthquake that was centered in neighboring Myanmar. The search for victims The work at the site has stopped; however, attempts to identify remains using DNA will go on.
Noppasin said at a news conference that evidence and testimony from experts suggested the building plan did not meet standards and codes The Bangkok Post reported that the police also found evidence of "structural defects in the main elevator shaft and inferior quality concrete and steel" in the project.
Thai media has been reporting on alleged misconduct in the project nearly daily since the building collapsed, with numerous accounts focusing on improper documentation related to the initiative. These reports have emphasized the involvement of Italian-Thai’s Chinese partnership firm. China Railway Company Number 10 , which participates in initiatives globally.
Among the 17 individuals charged on Friday was Zhang Chuanling, a Chinese national and a director at the joint venture between China Railway No. 10 and Italian-Thai Development. Previously, he had been detained earlier in the month for allegedly breaching Thai business laws by utilizing Thai nominees to act as stand-ins for his company within the joint venture, effectively controlling it without proper registration. Additionally, three Thai executives faced charges related to this incident.
On Thursday, a Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the 17 individuals on charges of negligence. Noppasin mentioned that 15 people surrendered themselves to a local police station earlier in the day, with the expectation that the last two would follow suit by Friday afternoon.
The earthquake's focal point was located in Central. Myanmar , where it killed more than 3,700 people and caused major damage in Mandalay, the country's second biggest city, and the capital Naypyitaw.
Premchai’s case is his second major tangle with the law. In 2019, he was convicted of wildlife poaching and spent approximately three years behind bars.
He was convicted of slaying protected species and unlawful weapon ownership when park rangers stumbled upon a hunting group at a wildlife reserve in 2018. Among the deceased were a rare black panther, which had been carved up for soup, along with a kalij pheasant and a muntjac deer.
Jintamas Saksornchai, The Associated Press
