A Chinese national who works as an executive for a business responsible for building a tower in Bangkok that fell in a severe earthquake last month, killing hundreds, has reportedly been arrested by Thai authorities. The collapse of the 30-story under-construction high-rise during the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked central Myanmar on March 28 is the subject of an investigation into a Chinese-backed construction company.
In a matter of seconds, the incomplete building collapsed, trapping many beneath the debris and launching a cloud of dust and debris into the air. Up to 47 persons have been officially declared deceased, and an other 47 are still missing.
Thailand’s Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong on Saturday said that a Thai court had issued arrest warrants for four individuals, including three Thai nationals, at China Railway No.10 for breaching the Foreign Business Act– which says that foreigners may hold no more than 49 per cent of shares in a company.
The Department of Special Investigation, which is under the justice ministry, said in a statement on Saturday that one of the four had been arrested — a Chinese “company representative” who they named as Zhang.
China Railway No.10 was part of a joint venture with an Italian-Thai firm to build the State Audit Office tower before its collapse.
Zhang is listed as a 49 per cent shareholder in the firm, while the three Thai citizens have a 51 per cent stake in the company, according to an AFP report.
But Tawee told journalists that “we have evidence… that the three Thais were holding shares for other foreign independents”.
Separately, Tawee said several investigations related to the collapse were ongoing, including over the possibility of bid rigging and the use of fake signatures of engineers in construction supervisor contracts.
Testing of steel rebars, which are struts used to support concrete, from the site revealed earlier this month that some of the metal used was subpar, according to Thai safety regulators.
Four Chinese nationals were arrested by authorities on March 31 for breaking into the site of a building that was still under construction and collapsing. According to the authorities, these men were attempting to take documents from the construction site.
The tower was the only significant structure in Bangkok to collapse during the devastating earthquake that struck on March 28 and killed over 3,700 people in Thailand and neighboring Myanmar.
