An Interior Ministry source said a report by a team from the Prime Minister’s Office said the transfer of the Samut Sakhon governor, Samut Sakhon prosecutors and related officials was made because the officials failed to follow the government’s policies in regard to foreign workers; such action had caused Thailand to remain at Tier 3 – the lowest level – in the US State Department’s annual report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP).

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha issued the transfer order in his capacity as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order.

The transfer order was issued just a few hours after Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyimet and held talks with Prayut at Government House on Friday evening.

On Thursday, Suu Kyi visited migrant workers from her country at Talad Talay Thai in Samut Sakhon province, which is known as ‘Little Myanmar’ because of the great number of Myanmar migrants working there. Suu Kyi reportedly received complaints from the workers about abuses they allegedly suffered.

The Samut Sakhon governor was transferred along with three senior officials in the province.

Governor Manrat Ratanasukhon was transferred to an inactive post at the Interior Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Office.

Nanthawut Utsahatan, the deputy chief prosecutor in the province, was transferred to an inactive post at the Office of the Attorney-General.

Songwut Chotima, Samut Sakhon’s chief industry officer, was transferred to an inactive post at the Industry Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Office, while Ratana Palachai, the province’s chief labour officer, was transferred to an inactive post at the Labour Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Office.

The order also transferred a public prosecutor and deputy public prosecutor from Na Thawi district in Songkhla to the Office of the Attorney-General.

Prayut also moved 17 police both in Bangkok and other provinces, whose ranks range from police major to major-general, to inactive posts at the Royal Thai Police. The police officers included those from Songkhla’s Sadao district.

A source from the Anti-Corruption Operation Centre said it had given the PM a list of 23 government officials and asked him to exercise his absolute power provided by Article 44 of the Interim Charter to transfer them over allegations of corruption and negligence.

The request to the PM to take action came after a joint operation by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Royal Navy, which raided seafood processing factories in Samut Sakhon to rescue Myanmar workers who were illegally trafficked into forced labour.

The move came after a joint operation by soldiers, police and DSI officials to raid gambling dens in Sadao district in Songkhla and a recent crackdown on migrant prostitutes at the Nataree massage parlour in Bangkok.

Section 44 used to allow probes

Reports had circulated since Friday evening that a big lot of officials would be transferred and the Royal Gazette website published the NCPO’s order, number 33/2559, on Friday night.

Part of the published statement said the NCPO chief had used Article 44 of the 2014 Interim Charter to transfer officials who face complaints of corruption and negligence, so it could take legal action against offenders who broke the law.

The order said the Anti-Corruption Operation Centre (ACOC) under the Ministry of Justice must instruct the agencies in charge of the transferred officers to appoint a fact-finding panel to investigate their offences. And this must be done within 30 days.

If the agencies cannot meet this deadline, they must report to the Attorney General and ministers who have jurisdiction over the officials. If investigations find the transferred officials commit wrongdoing, their superiors must take disciplinary and legal action against them.

If they were found to have committed no wrongdoing, their agencies must find new posts at the same level for them. But they will not be reinstated to their posts in the same jurisdiction they had worked previously.

The order also said the ACOC must submit information to the heads of all state agencies to help them monitor their staff. If they find misbehaviour by any officials, they must correct, warn, advise, and transfer them. If they are grounds that their superiors have committed offences, they must launch disciplinary action. If heads of state agencies fail to respond to the NCPO order, higher ranking officials must report to the PM.

The ACOC source said the centre was gathering a new list of officials believed to be involved in corruption scandals including “irregularities” in a Bt39-million New Year light show at Bangkok City Hall.