A probe into a suspected proxy business with a Chinese contractor of the collapsed State Audit Office tower is nearly 50% complete as rescuers have yet to reach blinking lights under the rubble of the high-rise structure.
Pol Maj Woranan Srilam, spokesman for the Department of Special Investigation, said on Sunday that the investigation concerned suspected shareholding by proxies at China Railway No.10 Engineering Co (Crec 10). The department was examining the financial transactions of three suspected nominees, he said.
Crec 10 formed the ITD-Crec Joint Venture which was contracted to build the 2.1-billion-baht new headquarters of the State Audit Office (SAO). The tower under construction unexpectedly collapsed on March 28 when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar.
According to Pol Maj Woranan, the DSI is looking into Crec 10’s joint ventures and past projects. The department has found that about 10 more companies were registered to the same group of shareholders.
The DSI is investigating if the company violated laws on foreign business and bidding collusion and whether substandard concrete was used in the construction of the 30-storey SAO tower.
DSI deputy director-general Surawut Rangsai said the DSI had already found that money from suspected proxies was transferred to two Chinese nationals.
He also said the DSI would question representatives of Crec 10, Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) and other companies that had competed for the SAO tower project from April 18 to May 15.
At the collapse site in Chatuchak district of Bangkok, rescuers continued to remove debris on Sunday. Chatuchak district chief Patkorn Sinsuk said rescuers were still trying to reach the location where there were blinking lights under the rubble.
There were no responses while rescuers were still blocked by large concrete slabs, she said.
As of Sunday, the death toll at the collapsed site was at 37 while 57 others were missing. Nine people survived with injuries.
