Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tarit Pengdith has denied his agency has accepted as a special case a complaint filed by the Expressway Authority of Thailand (Exat) that protesters of various groups had used the expressways almost every day during the People's Democratic Reform Committee's (PDRC) shutdown of Bangkok without paying tolls.
Mr Tarit was responding to a report quoting Exat public relations director Busaba Pathummas saying that from January through March the protesters travelled on the expressways using four-wheel, six-wheel and ten-wheel vehicles and motorcycles without paying any tolls and that the DSI had taken the complaint as a special case for further legal proceedings.
He said he had checked and Exat had not filed such a complaint with the DSI.
More importantly, this kind of unlawful act is not on the list of offences which can be treated as a special case under the Special Cases Investigation Act. For a case to be accepted for special investigation it must be approved by the special cases committee, Mr Tarit said.
The DSI chief said he believed there had been a misunderstanding on the part of Exat.
Maybe the report had been posted on the social media with the intent of discrediting the DSI, Mr Tarit added.