Hospital Director Arrested for Demanding Kickback from Contractor

The director of state-run Hospital in central Thailand has been arrested for allegedly demanding kickbacks from a contractor over a 280,000-baht computer system.

Police from the Counter Corruption Division and officials from the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) apprehended Dr. Wichai Rattthanaphanphanit, 53, director of Bangkruai Hospital while he was receiving 93,000 baht in kickbacks from the contractor of the hospital’s computer system in his office on Thursday.

Police said the contractor had filed a complaint with the PACC, asking the agency to look into the conduct of the accused hospital director.

The complainant claimed he had entered the bidding to install the hospital’s computer system worth about 280,000 baht. After that, the hospital director allegedly demanded a 15% kickback and later raised it to more than 33%, or around 93,000 baht, a police insider said.

As the kickback was about to be paid on Thursday at the hospital, the arresting team marked banknotes that the contractor had prepared to give the director.

When Dr Wichai received the money, the arresting team showed up to arrest him. The hospital director was later taken to the CCD office for further interrogation.

A check into his record found that he had faced similar complaints. The PACC would check the money trail of the accused director.

After that they would gather evidence and submit the probe report to the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The case would later be sent to court.