The joint venture’s representatives did not directly respond during the press conference on Friday when asked by Bangkok Tribune; whether or not they had requested the victims and their family members to sign a form to give up their rights to further legal proceedings in exchange for the money, repeatedly stressing that the intention is based on “humanitarian grounds”
The ITD-CREC Joint Venture on Friday distributed the first batch of the disbursements set for 21 victims of the State Audit Office (SAO) building, which had collapsed during the major earthquake on March 28, and either killed or injured them. The injured workers, nine of them, received Bt 200,000 each, while 12 killed by the incident received Bt 1 million each through their lawful family members.
There are 109 affected workers in total, who are subject to the joint venture’s payments. 19 of them are ITD’s workers, one from CREC, and the rest, 89, are workers of the JV’s sub-contractors, according to ITD’s Executive Vice President, Kriengsak Kovadhana, who represented the joint venture at the event.
The ITD-CREC has initiated the project, claiming it wishes to provide “humanitarian assistance” to the victims of the incident. The source close to the issue said the JV and the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok had approached the Lawyers Council of Thailand to act as a mediator in this initiative. Other concerned agencies, including the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Royal Thai Police, were later invited to be part of a newly set-up committee to help manage the payments and verifications of the victims’ identities and their lawful heirs.
Mr. Kriengsak first revealed the initiative on the day he was invited to give testimony to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), April 29, on the JV’s roles in the construction work of the collapsed building.
The ITD-CREC is a construction contractor of the SAO building, which won its construction contract worth over Bt 2,100 million in 2021. It’s a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development Plc. and China Railway Number 10 (Thailand), or CREC.
Following the earthquake, the police have been pursuing criminal cases concerning the collapse of the building, while the DSI has been looking into possible irregularities that may have been involved in the collapse.
The DSI has so far taken two cases concerning the use of nominees at CREC and possible bid collusion among concerned parties in this construction project as special cases under its law and authority. In mid-April, it arrested Mr. Zhang Chunling, an official of China’s state-owned enterprise China Railway No.10 Engineering Group Co., Ltd (CREC No.10), the CREC’s largest shareholder, along with three Thai nationals, accusing them of involvement in the use of nominees in the company. In late April, it then announced the second special case concerning possible bid collusion in the project and sent official invitations to parties concerned for interrogation, including Mr. Kriengsak.
They were both present at their “humanitarian assistance” payment ceremony on Friday.
Read: CREC responsible for “structural engineering work” at the SAO building, DSI told/ Possible bid collusion in SAO building case taken as second “Special Case” by DSI/ China Railway Number 10 (Thailand)’s boss under arrest
The disbursements and the rights to legal proceedings
The representatives of the joint venture kept stressing at the event that the initiative is based on “humanitarian grounds” and the JV does not have any intention to influence any further legal proceedings or outcomes. According to Mr. Kriengsak, the JV has covered funeral-related costs for the families of the deaths, Bt 50,000 each, general assistance worth Bt 10,000 each for the injured, plus other related medical costs already.
Bangkok Tribune asked whether or not they had any proofs to confirm the statement, and whether or not they had requested the victims and their family members to sign a form to give up their rights to further legal proceedings in exchange for the money as speculated in social media, Mr. Kriengsak did not directly respond to the question. He just said of the news circulated on social media, saying people should be mindful when dealing with it, and should not pick it up as an issue.
“This (this round of payments) is official as we work with the LCT. It’s genuine,” said Mr. Kriengsak, suggesting that this is his proof.
Supamitra Watnoppakun, representing Mr. Zhang and CREC, added that there are several forms circulated on social media, but “no official” forms regarding this matter have ever been released yet. The JV would release an official one for people to see after the event, he added, stressing that the initiative aims to alleviate people’s sufferings, and the JV does not have any intention to influence any further legal proceedings or outcomes. The victims’ families, he later added, can still have the right to proceed with legal action if there are grounds for the wrongdoings in the construction of the building, and these payments will not deprive them of their rights.
As seen by Bangkok Tribune, there is a form that places a condition for the victims to sign up in exchange for them to drop their rights to proceed with legal action, criminal and civil, against the company and concerned parties involving the building collapse incident.
It was confirmed by a source close to the issue that it was subject to a discussion in the meeting between the JV’s executives and the committee’s representatives, and Mr. Kriengsak had eventually announced to nullify it. However, his announcement is not in any formal writing yet, according to the source.
The LCT’s Secretary-General, Sunthorn Phayak, suggested the organisation go through the issue again as there could be legal complications if such a form was signed by the victim’s families. He suggested issuing a formal request to the company to officially nullify the form and any forms regarding the matter that were issued by it and signed by the victims’ families.
Mediation in writing is legally valid and can be used to fight in the court, he said, adding that what is of concern is whether it could also affect what promised under the new initiative.
The LCT so far has produced a new form with no legal conditions set for the victims’ families to sign when receiving the payments, and they can have trust in it.
Some family members of the victims told Bangkok Tribune that they were also asked to sign that controversial form, but refused to do so for fear that it could deprive their rights to legal proceedings. However, they have no idea how many families of the victims have already signed that form, as they were immediately approached right after the forensic identification for their relatives was completed at a hospital.
The disbursment ceremony came as the rescuers called it quits on searching for those still missing at the site. They said they had opened up all zones at the construction site in search of those missing, but could not find any further bodies. Of 109 victims, 89 are registered as dead, nine are injured, four have shown up later, and seven are still missing.
The rescuers just hope that forensic officials will be able to identify them from hundreds of parts of human bodies collected and submitted to them earlier. Relatives of those still missing at the site are still waiting for their loved ones, and they said they have no idea what to do next with their lives, as they have not found the bodies and cannot move on.
Read a special report @bkktribune.com on the day when the search and rescue mission was discharged, while seven more people are still missing at the site.
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