Former director of the National Parks Office, Chaiwat Limlikhitaksorn, has been dismissed from government service, effective retroactively from September 30th, 2024, after he was found guilty of corruption by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
Jatuporn Buruspat, permanent secretary-general of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, signed the dismissal order on June 6th, on the recommendation of the ministry’s Civil Service Commission, which met on May 30th to consider the NACC’s ruling.
The NACC ruled that Chaiwat had committed gross disciplinary violations in connection with the bidding for the construction of an office building for park rangers, in the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province.
Two contractors, Tha Yang Construction and Phetchaburi Yutthana Construction, participated in the bidding for the 3.5 million baht construction project.
It was subsequently discovered that both companies are owned by the same person and the construction was undertaken without being supervised by officials, because the location of the project was not easily accessible, making it challenging for official supervisors attend regularly.
The NACC alleged that Chaiwat was rewarded with one million baht as a result of the successful contract bid collusion.
Known as a dedicated protector of the country’s forests, Chaiwat gained notoriety when he led officials in the burning down of lodgings occupied by ethnic Karen settlers, in Ban Bang Kloy in Kaeng Krachan National Park in 2011, to force them out of the park. The violent eviction prompted the Karens to take the case to the Administrative Court, with the help of NGOs.
In the same year, Chaiwat led his men to the crash site of a helicopter in the park, to retrieve the remains of the victims. As a result of this good deed, he was named as an outstanding official in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in 2011.
In 2014, however, he came under suspicion over the enforced disappearance of a Karen conservationist, Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, after had been temporarily held in custody by Chaiwat and his men for collecting wild honey in the park. Chaiwat claimed that Porlajee was subsequently released, but he had not been seen since.
The case was revived by the Department of Special Investigation in 2018, in an effort to find Porlajee’s remains as, by that time, it he was believed to be dead. An oil drum was found at the bottom of a river in the park and burned bone fragments inside were found to match DNA samples taken from Porlajee’s close relatives.
Chaiwat and his men were arrested and charged with murder, appearing before the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct in 2019. In 2023, Chaiwat was sentenced to a suspended jail term on a conviction for malfeasance in office.
In 2022, Chaiwat reentered the public limelight when he orchestrated a sting operation, in cooperation with anti-corruption officials, to snare Ratchada Suriyakul Na Ayudhya, then director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, who was caught red-handed taking bribes from officials at his office in return for their promotions.
The operation resulted in Ratchada’s dismissal from government service.
