Thai Authorities Arrest Chinese Executive Linked To Bangkok Skyscraper Collapse

Authorities in Thailand have reportedly arrested a Chinese national, who is an executive at a company in charge of constructing a Bangkok skyscraper which collapsed in a major earthquake last month, leaving dozens dead. A Chinese-backed construction firm is being investigated over the collapse of the 30-story under-construction high-rise during a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar on March 28.

The unfinished building crumbled in seconds, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air and trapping dozens under the rubble. As many as 47 people have been confirmed dead, while another 47 are still unaccounted for.

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.

Earlier this month, Thai safety officials said testing of steel rebars — struts used to reinforce concrete — from the site has found that some of the metal used was substandard.

On March 31, police had detained four Chinese nationals for unlawfully entering the site of an under-construction building that collapsed. The police said these men were trying to retrieve documents from the building site. 

The skyscraper was the only major building in Bangkok to fall in the catastrophic March 28 earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people in Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar.