Quote:'Cash for cabinet seat' scandal widens

Wassayos Ngamkham and Wassana Nanuam

An army colonel and his accomplice were arrested on Thursday after they were caught accepting a 1.5 million baht deposit for the alleged deal at a restaurant opposite the Army Club in Bangkok. Police believe more people were involved.

The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) is searching for suspected accomplices of two alleged scam artists accused of trying to con a publisher into paying 40 million baht in exchange for a cabinet position.

Video footage of Panatthana Tamprateep, editor and owner of the Kha Pandin Siam newspaper, handing over the money to the suspects, recorded by undercover officers, will be used as key evidence in the case against the gang, said CSD Commander Pol Maj-Gen Worasak Noppasitthiporn.

He said his investigation team believed the scam to convince people that they could secure a cabinet seat in exchange for cash involved more accomplices than just the two suspects already arrested.

The arrests came after Mr Panatthana informed crime suppression police last Friday that Col Nattaporn Chaithongkham and Attapan Maneechote-wichanat had approached him with the offer.

He said the men claimed to be close aides of Council for National Security (CNS) secretary-general Winai Phattiyakul, who said they were trusted headhunters with a mission to find suitable people to join the cabinet.

Mr Panatthana said the colonel, attached to the Supreme Command Headquarters, told him he could secure a seat on the cabinet if he provided the financial backing of 40 million baht.

Gen Somjet Bunthanom, budget office director of the Defence Ministry and chief of the CNS secretariat, said the CNS had heard about the scam earlier and had alerted police about it. Gen Somjet was not certain, however, if the suspects arrested on Thursday were part of the same group as those the CNS had been tipped off about.

Gen Somjet said the Defence Ministry would not offer any assistance to the arrested suspects even though one of them was a military man.

Bangkok Post March 10, 2007

I thought carneval was over already and April 1 were still some weeks ahead. :biggrin:
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