Thai construction magnate surrenders to police over building collapse in quake

A construction magnate, builders, designers and engineers have surrendered to police on criminal negligence charges for the deadly collapse of a Bangkok high-rise in the March 28 earthquake that hit Myanmar.

Premchai Karnasuta, the president of Italian-Thai Development Co, the main Thai contractor for the building project, as well as designers and engineers were among 17 charged with professional negligence causing death, Bangkok deputy police chief Noppasin Poonsawat said.

Mr Noppasin said those who met police on Friday formally denied the charges.

Several have previously issued public denials in response to allegations in the media.

Ninety-two people were confirmed dead in the rubble of the building that had been under construction and a small number of other people remain unaccounted for.

The building, which was to become a new state audit office, was the only one in Thailand to collapse in the earthquake that was centred in neighbouring Myanmar.

The search for victims at the site has been halted, though efforts to identify remains through DNA will continue.

Mr Noppasin said at a news conference that evidence and testimony from experts suggested the building plan did not meet standards and codes.

The Bangkok Post newspaper said police had also determined the project showed “structural flaws in the core lift shaft and substandard concrete and steel”.

Thai media have reported allegations of wrongdoing in the project almost every day since the building’s collapse, many of them involving irregular documentation for the project.

Their reports have highlighted the role of Italian-Thai’s Chinese joint venture partner, the China Railway No 10 company, which is involved in projects around the world.

One of the 17 charged on Friday was Chinese executive Zhang Chuanling, a director at China Railway No 10’s joint venture with Italian-Thai Development.

He was previously arrested last month on a charge of violating Thai business law by wrongly using Thai nominees to serve as the Chinese firm’s proxies to allegedly control the joint venture.

Three Thai executives were also arrested on the charge.

A Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the 17 on the negligence charge on Thursday.

Mr Noppasin said 15 turned themselves in at a police station in the morning and the remaining two were expected to do so later on Friday.

The epicentre of the quake was in central Myanmar, where it killed more than 3,700 people and caused major damage in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city, and the capital Naypyitaw.

Premchai’s case is his second major tangle with the law.

In 2019, he was convicted of wildlife poaching and served about three years in prison.

He was found guilty of killing protected animals and illegal possession of weapons after park rangers found a hunting party at a wildlife sanctuary in 2018 with carcasses of a rare black panther, a kalij pheasant and a barking deer.

The panther had been butchered and its meat cooked for soup.