News Forum - Update: government official that allegedly stole from fund meant for the disabled spent all the money on gambling

[Thaiger]

In an update to yesterday’s story, Pisal Sukjaitham, the government official who was arrested for allegedly embezzling 13 million baht from a fund meant for the disabled, allegedly confessed, after being interrogated, that he spent all the money he stole on gambling. In another development in the story, INN says that officials are now saying 45 million baht was stolen from the fund and not 15 million. Yesterday, Pisal was taken to a Bangkok court that focuses on corruption cases. He is still in police custody. Officers are still searching for other officials who may be involved with the theft. […]

The post Update: government official that allegedly stole from fund meant for the disabled spent all the money on gambling appeared first on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[Shade_Wilder]

The only way to combat this kind of thing is to splash his photo, in handcuffs, on the frontpage of every newspaper and every website.

Stop protecting these worms.

Shaming works.

Then jail, for a loooooong time.

 

[Paco]

In the hole throw away the key  

[Stonker]

On gambling ... so unfortunately none of the money can be recovered ...

[ExpatPattaya]

Picture deleted by Moderators -

Breach of Rule (6) 1.     All text and posted content, must align to the topic and/or first post under that topic. Post must be accompanied by a personal comment & link (URL) to any source for verification.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Smithydog
No Personal Opinion included

[TV7]

Why is this news. It's about Thailand, corruption and gambling?!

[Griff1315]

One man stole not 13 million but 45 million and spent it all on gambling...

 

How stupid do they think the public are. This guy is obviously the fall guy for the higher ups who were twisted and cruel enough to steal money ment for the disabled.

 

[Graham]

Me thinks there is a lot more to this story and for sure there are more involved, anyone checked other office staff for new Benz or any new houses with pools ? 555

[HiuMak]

Interesting piece of news. "Access to funds and able to perform transfer on his own". That does not sound right.  Either authorities has a critical process control breach or those approving the transfer are blind.

[JohninDublin]

14 minutes ago, Shade_Wilder said:

The only way to combat this kind of thing is to splash his photo, in handcuffs, on the frontpage of every newspaper and every website.

Stop protecting these worms.

Shaming works.

Then jail, for a loooooong time.

If only it were that simple regarding shaming. You are dealing with an addiction, and just like alcoholics and junkies, shaming does not stop the problem. I don't say he shouldn't be punished, but jailing him will not cure the addiction either.

There is a school of thought that compulsive gamblers are not trying to win, but are determined to lose. It works like this. Someone has a bet and frequently, they have modest luck early on. They begin to think that they have found the formula to easy wealth, so have a few more bets and maybe their luck isn't quite so good, but they think that they have found the winning formula, and if only they carry on doing what they were doing, their luck will change. 

So they start borrowing, maybe on plastic and may have run up a debt of say €5k. Frequently in the early days, they will recover the debts which vindicates they are "masters of the universe". But instead of stopping, they will say to themselves something like, "I haven't taken the wife for a night out for ages. I'll just win another €250 and the stop for the day". They hit their target, and then it becomes, "The wife was talking about going on holiday this year. If I just win another €1000, that will pay for it", and so it carries on.

On occasion, they stop because they are physically, too drained to carry on. They give the wife some cash, and say to themselves, "I'll come back tomorrow for some for more free money". But it never lasts, and they say to the wife "Remember that €1000, I gave you? I need it back"

The point is, that no matter how much they win, they can never find a reason to stop. But they can always find a reason to carry on. I knew someone who was a professional burglar who stole millions, and then gave it to the bookies. He often told me, that as soon as he had €100k, he would stop and buy a corner- shop so that his family would be secure for the rest of his life. I knew for a fact that he had hit that target many times (and more), but he still couldn't stop. Mental Health professionals believe the subconscious thinking of the compulsive gambler is not they want to win, but they want to lose, because once they stop gambling, they have to take responsibility for themselves and that money, and this might fail. So they carry on. When they inevitably fail, it's not their fault. It was just pure bad luck. Thus they rationalise, they are not failures. But if they do invest in a corner shop, and it goes wrong, then they are failures.

When you read of the occasional story of English Premier League footballers losing thousand night after night in Casinos, you might question why people who have so much money feel the need to have anything other than a casual bet? It seems to make sense that in a few short years, their career and huge pay-packets will be at an end, and soon they will have to take responsibility for all that money they earned and should have been saving.

[Griff1315]

4 minutes ago, HiuMak said:

Interesting piece of news. "Access to funds and able to perform transfer on his own". That does not sound right.  Either authorities has a critical process control breach or those approving the transfer are blind.

Come on 

One man 45 million Baht all spent on gambling 

Wish I was his bookie...

[harry1]

1 hour ago, Shade_Wilder said:

The only way to combat this kind of thing is to splash his photo, in handcuffs, on the frontpage of every newspaper and every website.

Stop protecting these worms.

Shaming works.

Then jail, for a loooooong time.

its forbidden to prosecute corrupt government official,as they are entitled to their share,as per status,there be no reform,this is how it works here and always be so mr wilder

[Shade_Wilder]

16 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

If only it were that simple regarding shaming. You are dealing with an addiction, and just like alcoholics and junkies, shaming does not stop the problem. I don't say he shouldn't be punished, but jailing him will not cure the addiction either.

There is a school of thought that compulsive gamblers are not trying to win, but are determined to lose. It works like this. Someone has a bet and frequently, they have modest luck early on. They begin to think that they have found the formula to easy wealth, so have a few more bets and maybe their luck isn't quite so good, but they think that they have found the winning formula, and if only they carry on doing what they were doing, their luck will change. 

So they start borrowing, maybe on plastic and may have run up a debt of say €5k. Frequently in the early days, they will recover the debts which vindicates they are "masters of the universe". But instead of stopping, they will say to themselves something like, "I haven't taken the wife for a night out for ages. I'll just win another €250 and the stop for the day". They hit their target, and then it becomes, "The wife was talking about going on holiday this year. If I just win another €1000, that will pay for it", and so it carries on.

On occasion, they stop because they are physically, too drained to carry on. They give the wife some cash, and say to themselves, "I'll come back tomorrow for some for more free money". But it never lasts, and they say to the wife "Remember that €1000, I gave you? I need it back"

The point is, that no matter how much they win, they can never find a reason to stop. But they can always find a reason to carry on. I knew someone who was a professional burglar who stole millions, and then gave it to the bookies. He often told me, that as soon as he had €100k, he would stop and buy a corner- shop so that his family would be secure for the rest of his life. I knew for a fact that he had hit that target many times (and more), but he still couldn't stop. Mental Health professionals believe the subconscious thinking of the compulsive gambler is not they want to win, but they want to lose, because once they stop gambling, they have to take responsibility for themselves and that money, and this might fail. So they carry on. When they inevitably fail, it's not their fault. It was just pure bad luck. Thus they rationalise, they are not failures. But if they do invest in a corner shop, and it goes wrong, then they are failures.

When you read of the occasional story of English Premier League footballers losing thousand night after night in Casinos, you might question why people who have so much money feel the need to have anything other than a casual bet? It seems to make sense that in a few short years, their career and huge pay-packets will be at an end, and soon they will have to take responsibility for all that money they earned and should have been saving.

 

You have provided an excellent explanation as to how and why people gamble and/or continue to gamble.

Alas, I simply don't care.

I am tired of reading about Thai government Bureaucrats stealing money and not getting punished. I am especially tired of reading about Thai Bureaucrats stealing money allocated for the disabled and getting away with it. I am tired of dealing with Thai bureaucrats and having money stolen from me, even if it is in small amounts. I am tired of all the stealing. Period.

If his photo is splashed across all the newspapers and websites, it'll embarrass him and every other Bureaucrat and perhaps, just maybe, the other bureaucrats won't steal money allocated to help the disabled. If photos of him are published sitting on a cold, cement, over-crowded jail-house floor, then perhaps one more disabled person will receive the funds they deserve.

It'll never stop if there is no deterrence and there is no deterrence if they are never punished.

So, punish them.

 

 

[JohninDublin]

15 minutes ago, Graham said:

Me thinks there is a lot more to this story and for sure there are more involved, anyone checked other office staff for new Benz or any new houses with pools ? 555

I am reminded of a story from about 10 years ago that I read in the BKK post concerning a senior civil servant at the Transport Ministry. Part of his duties included awarding road building contracts.

On the day of his daughter's wedding, his home was burgled and this was reported in the media. He told them that 5 mill THB had been stolen and these were wedding gifts from the guests to his daughter. Within days, the police had caught the burglars, and they said they had stolen not 5 mill, but 118 mill.  Apparently, there were about 10 in the burglary gang, and the money had to be carted away in van. Most of the gang were quickly rounded up and and much of the money recovered to support their version of events.

The CS was suspended from duty while an investigation took place, and he told the media, that only 5 mill was stolen. When asked to explain all the other cash that was being reported as found, he told the media, that he had been the victim of a plot to frame him by rivals because he was investigating corruption in his own dept. At the time, the THB was trading at about 44 to the €. So it seems that someone spent the best part of €2.6 mill to frame him. As the thieves insisted that they took the money from the house, it would appear that sometime between the family leaving for the wedding ceremony etc, someone had broken into the house, and left 113 mill to go with the wedding gifts, and soon after they left, the burglars suffered immense but temporary good fortune.

I never saw the conclusion of the story as I returned home while the investigation was ongoing. I'd be grateful if anyone else is aware of this story, to know how it ended.

[JohninDublin]

33 minutes ago, Shade_Wilder said:

You have provided an excellent explanation as to how and why people gamble and/or continue to gamble.

Alas, I simply don't care.

I am tired of reading about Thai government Bureaucrats stealing money and not getting punished. I am especially tired of reading about Thai Bureaucrats stealing money allocated for the disabled and getting away with it. I am tired of dealing with Thai bureaucrats and having money stolen from me, even if it is in small amounts. I am tired of all the stealing. Period.

If his photo is splashed across all the newspapers and websites, it'll embarrass him and every other Bureaucrat and perhaps, just maybe, the other bureaucrats won't steal money allocated to help the disabled. If photos of him are published sitting on a cold, cement, over-crowded jail-house floor, then perhaps one more disabled person will receive the funds they deserve.

It'll never stop if there is no deterrence and there is no deterrence if they are never punished.

So, punish them.

I don't disagree with you about punishment. My point is that shaming will not cure the problem by itself. I don't doubt for one minute that the bureaucrat involved in this case thought that he was only one bet away from recovering his losses and replacing all the stolen money. But I also have very little doubt that had he had the necessary win, he would have carried on gambling and dug a bigger hole for himself.

Edited September 21, 2021 by JohninDubin

[JohninDublin]

28 minutes ago, Griff1315 said:

Come on 

One man 45 million Baht all spent on gambling 

Wish I was his bookie...

I remember speaking to a Coloradan ex-pat I met in Pattaya and he had a very simple outlook on gambling. It was something along the lines of, "Take a look at all those luxury hotels attached to casinos in Las Vegas. They were not built on the losings of casinos, but the losings of gamblers".

[Griff1315]

Just now, JohninDubin said:

I remember speaking to a Coloradan ex-pat I met in Pattaya and he had a very simple outlook on gambling. It was something along the lines of, "Take a look at all those luxury hotels attached to casinos in Las Vegas. They were not built on the losings of casinos, but the losings of gamblers".

But one man 45 million Baht can you honestly believe it.

[HolyCowCm]

1 hour ago, Shade_Wilder said:

The only way to combat this kind of thing is to splash his photo, in handcuffs, on the frontpage of every newspaper and every website.

Stop protecting these worms.

Shaming works.

Then jail, for a loooooong time.

Might have 60% of the buffoons in control in them photos if they really got serious as that probably adds up to way more than a mere 45 mil.

[MrStretch]

2 hours ago, Thaiger said:

The permanent secretary says Pisal has been temporarily suspended from duty to allow the investigation to be pursued without his obstruction.

And afterwards he will receive a nice transfer to some other government office.

This is Thailand.

[Bob20]

15 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

I remember speaking to a Coloradan ex-pat I met in Pattaya and he had a very simple outlook on gambling. It was something along the lines of, "Take a look at all those luxury hotels attached to casinos in Las Vegas. They were not built on the losings of casinos, but the losings of gamblers".

The house always wins in the long run...

Love Vegas BTW, but not for the gambling. That just allowed everything from all over the world to be there, food, entertainment etc.

It's changed a lot last 10 years though. Prices were shooting up until covid hit as gambling is down and it's much more a family holiday destination now.

Maybe a good idea for Thailand? Set up as alternative for Macau and get not 1 but 10 million rich visitors!

Are you listening TAT?

20 million, 30 million...!

[JohninDublin]

7 minutes ago, Griff1315 said:

But one man 45 million Baht can you honestly believe it.

On the face of it, no. But then again, I never really believed that someone spent 113 mill to frame a CS in the transport ministry.

The most incredible thing in my view, is the lack of financial controls that allowed this to happen, in a country where corruption in official circles is rife. It seems that nobody wants to shut the stable door, even after the horse has bolted in order to keep the rest of the occupants under control.

[DrPhibes]

1 hour ago, Stonker said:

On gambling ... so unfortunately none of the money can be recovered ...

I think he meant investing in bitcoin (gambling as far as I'm concerned).  Making a run for the border to join his significant other holding the hard wallet.

[BDawg467]

Corruption is everywhere in Thailand with the police and government.  Didn't Prayut say he was going to stop this??  What a fine job he is doing!!!  This guy says he didn't do it but he was trying to flee??  He has been suspended pending investigation but probably still getting a paycheque.  He will be promoted like all other corrupt officials.