Ex-Parks head 'lifts lid on graft culture'

The ACD office on Tuesday issued a subpoena to Mr Chaiwat as one of the witnesses in the bribery case involving DNP's former chief, Rutchada Suriyakul Na Ayutya.

Mr Rutchada was arrested on Dec 27 at his office in Chatuchak district by an ACD team led by Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew after Mr Chaiwat filed a complaint with the Counter-Corruption Division (CCD) police.

An envelope containing 98,000 baht was found in the raid, as was another 4.9 million baht in envelopes with the names of subordinates on them in Mr Rutchada's safe.

According to Mr Chaiwat, Mr Rutchada abused his authority by transferring officials to positions far from their home provinces if they refused to pay him 500,000 baht.

The evidence also showed Mr Rutchada would collect 18.5% of the budgets allocated to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and 30% of the budgets received by forest fire prevention units.

The money was then divided by 12, which represented how much those officials should send to Mr Rutchada each month.

After a two-hour meeting with ACD investigators, Mr Chaiwat said he was confident the evidence found by the ACD and National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), which included 13 witnesses and 53 pages of documentary evidence, was solid enough for police to proceed with legal action against Mr Rutchada.

He claimed that after two failed attempts, he met Mr Rutchada in October after being reinstated as director of Protected Areas Regional Office 9.

Despite his disagreement, citing liability issues, Mr Rutchada insisted the payments must continue, according to Mr Chaiwat. While Mr Chaiwat provided useful information, Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat said investigators must be cautious at all times.

Mr Chaiwat claimed that even though bribery had taken place in the DNP before, he had not experienced a situation like this. Minister Varawut Silpa-archa insisted the ministry will do everything possible to prevent the issue from resurfacing.