Would-be child sex ‘whistle blower’ faces transfer
The Mae Hong Song district official who accused the province’s governor, Suebsak Iamwichan, of being involved in a child-prostitution ring, is to be transferred to Ubon Ratchathani on July 11.
Mae Sa Riang district deputy chief Boonyarit Nipawanit, who also chairs the Federation of Assistant District Chiefs of Thailand, is to be reassigned to Ubon Ratchatani’s Pibul Mangsahan district, according to an order signed by Pairoj Leungpairoj, acting director-general of the Interior Ministry’s Provincial Administration Department.
Boonyarit speculated on Thursday that the transfer order might have stemmed from a recent meeting of provincial administrators at which Suebsak presided.
He believed he had upset authorities with his calls for high-ranking officials involved in child prostitution to be punished.
He had also publicly alleged that recruiting officials in eight local administrative bodies were being offered Bt500,0000-Bt600,000 for lofty positions.
“My transfer from a northern border province to another on the northeastern border definitely amounts to bullying,” Boonyarit said, “because it affects my family, who live in Chiang Mai, and my ability to travel around to give testimony in various cases against high-ranking officials and about corruption in the province.”
The transfer would not prevent him from following through on his complaints, he vowed.
He planned to sue Provincial Administration Department executives who launched a disciplinary probe against him for talking to the news media about complaints he’d received from injured parties.
Boonyarit alleged that Suebsak had been identified as a customer of an underage prostitute. The governor was transferred to an inactive post in Bangkok pending the investigation that followed and then cleared of any such involvement. He resumed his duties in Mae Hong Son on June 19.
Source: Thai Visa
