A FORMER official wanted for illegally registering land deeds for about 1,000 plots in Phuket and Phang-Nga allegedly took his own life yesterday. The suspect was found to have hung himself in custody – hours before he was due to appear in the Criminal Court.

Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials said Tawatchai Anukul, a former official of the Phang-Nga Provincial Land Department, had hanged himself by attaching a sock to his detention room door early yesterday morning. That was just one day after he was arrested for wrongfully exercising his duties as an official of the Provincial Land Department.

DSI director-general Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang said Tawatchai reportedly killed himself due to anxiety and stress after being arrested in Nonthaburi on Monday.

“I believe the suspect committed suicide because he faced a DSI arrest warrant and was also being sued in many cases related to offences on illegal land-deed registration,” Paisit said.

He added that apart from the DSI case, Tawatchai was also being investigated by the Anti-Money Laundering Office over his property and a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) probe over corruption.

The DSI chief said that Tawatchai was allegedly involved in the illegal land-deed registration of more than 1,000 plots of public land in Phuket and Phang-Nga provinces and that his crime had cost the country more than Bt10.5 billion.

DSI deputy director-general Pol Colonel Songsak Raksaksakul said Tawatchai was arrested on Monday in Nonthaburi according to an arrest warrant issued in June, and was detained at DSI’s headquarters for a night before being sent to Criminal Court for further sentencing yesterday.

However, Songsak said that after interrogation yesterday afternoon, Tawatchai showed signs of stress and ate very little, so officers let him rest in his detention room.

Then when an officer went to Tawatchai’s detention room at around 2am, Songsak said, he saw that the suspect had hanged himself from the cell door using his sock. The officer said he broke into the cell and had the suspect sent to Mongkut Wattana Hospital, but Tawatchai died at around 4.45am.

“I insist that the DSI has proper detention standards and we would like to express our deep condolences to the suspect’s family,” Songsak said.

“The DSI will set up a committee to investigate this tragic incident to see if it was because of negligence on the officers’ part,” he added.

Paisit said that a post-mortem would be conducted because Tawatchai had died in custody before his body is returned to his family for funeral rites.

Other suspects pursued

“The criminal offences against him are now nullified because he is already dead, though investigation on money laundering related to his property will continue,” he said.

Pol Lt-Colonel Prawut Wongseenin, DSI Consumer Protection and Environment Crime Bureau director, stated that Tawatchai’s death would not affect the illegal land-deed registration case as the investigation was complete and the DSI had solid evidence against all the defendants.

“The DSI has two special cases involving this suspect.

“These two cases involve illegal land-deed registration in Phuket’s Thalang district and prosecution moves are being made on three companies and three officers, one of whom was Tawatchai,” Prawut told reporters.

According to the DSI, the suspect was being investigated on 12 cases by the NACC in relation to the illegal land-registration of 22 sites. He also faced a 12-year jail term issued by the Surat Thani provincial court.

 

“I am worried about recent developments,” Suwaphan said yesterday. “I would like to urge all sides to stay calm and let the law run its course.”

On Sunday, Phra Methee Dhammacharn – a prominent supporter of acting Supreme Patriarch Somdet Chuang – urged fellow monks in a Facebook post to rise up in defence of the country’s Buddhism institutions and clergymen.

His move followed the Department of Special Investigation’s (DSI) recent announcement that it is preparing to press charges against Somdet Chuang over a Mercedes-Benz that was registered under his name and was allegedly involved in tax invasion.

Suwaphan said yesterday that law enforcement and security agencies would be prepared to deal with rallies by monks.

He also suggested that agencies had already contacted Phra Methee Dhammacharn to persuade him not to mobilise his supporters.

“I think they have already had some discussions. But I won’t say which agency has done this,” Suwaphan said.

A source said Somdet Chuang could face charges of possessing a vehicle linked to tax evasion and giving false information to authorities related to the registration of the vehicle.

The senior monk’s aides have insisted that Somdet Chuang is innocent of wrongdoing because the antique Mercedes-Benz was given to him and he did not know how the vehicle was acquired.