A local administrator from Nonthaburi linked to the widening Mae Hong Son teen-sex scandal failed to report to police on Saturday, after his lawyer said he had experienced a recurrence of back pain.
Police are seeking to detain Wasu Phan-ngoen, chief of the Ban Mai tambon administration organisation (TAO), on charges of dereliction of duty. Investigators say budget documents were falsified for a "study trip" by Ban Mai officials to the northern province, where some participants bought sex from teenage prostitutes.
Mr Wasu's lawyer appeared on his client's behalf at the Bang Mae Nang station in Bang Yai district of Nonthaburi on Saturday. He told police that Mr Wasu was experiencing back and leg pain and was taken to Phaya Thai 3 Hospital in Bangkok on Friday night. The pain was a recurrence of an injury suffered in a fall from a roof a year ago, he said.
Pol Col Chotewat Lueangwisai, chief of the Bang Mae Nang station, said officers would verify the claimed illness and might arrest Mr Wasu at the hospital.
On Friday, deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul personally oversaw the arrest of Chuchart Phuang-gene, a Ban Mai TAO official accused of buying sex, after he failed to report for questioning.
Police had contacted Mr Wasu earlier on Friday and told him to report to answer the charges. Media reports said his TAO had sought a budget for a trip for 23 people but only 20 went. The additional funds, it is suspected, went to pay for sex services of underage girls procured from a network run by a Mae Hong Son police officer.
Police have charged Mr Wasu and Montha Charoensukwan, assistant chief of the Ban Mai TAO, with making a false document for the budget withdrawal.
Miss Montha reported to the station and police brought her to the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases in Bangkok to seek her detention. The court released her on bail of 200,000 baht on condition that she not tamper with witnesses and evidence.
The Ban Mai TAO undertook a three-day study trip to Mae Hong Son last Septenber. The paid-sex encounters reportedly took place on Sept 22 at a resort in Muang district of the northern province.
The case first came to light last November when the authorities cracked down on prostitution rings in Mae Hong Son. A woman who worked as a police informant saw a picture of her daughter among the girls forced into prostitution, allegedly by a policeman at the Nam Phieng Din station who ran a flesh trade ring. He is now in custody along with two women accused of procuring underage girls, and several other suspects.
