Three Thai shareholders and directors of China Railway No 10 (Thailand) reported to the Department of Special Investigation today, to acknowledge charges of being nominees of foreign business.
The three Thai nationals have been identified as Manus Srianant, Prachuab Sirikate and Sophon Meechai.
According to the DSI, the three men are neither financially sound enough to own 51% of the equity in the major construction firm, nor are they construction engineers.
Manus’s lawyer claims, however, that the three men are not nominee shareholders, as charged by the DSI.
A joint venture, between China Railway No 10 (Thailand) and Italian-Thai Development Corporation (IDC), won the contract to construct the State Audit Office building in Chatuchak district, Bangkok, which collapsed on March 28th, when it was hit by tremors from an earthquake in Myanmar.
More than 40 Thai and Burmese nationals are confirmed dead following the collapse, and about 50 other people are still missing.
Using Thai nominees in the establishment of the construction firm, allegedly to get around the Alien Business Act, is just one of the illegal activities being investigated. The DSI, the police and other related agencies are also probing other suspected contributors to the collapse of the building, such as the use of substandard construction materials, changes in the design of the core lift shaft and lax supervision of the construction work.
