Pol Gen Srivara unperturbed by hashtag campaign against him

The deputy national police chief overseeing the illegal hunting case against Italian-Thai Development Plc boss Premchai Karnasuta said Wednesday (March 7) that he was not perturbed by the criticism and hashtag campaign against him.

Insisting that he has done everything in accordance with the law, Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said that the case was progressing and was already 90 percent completed and he expected the police case file would be submitted to the public prosecutor within March 24.

He disclosed that 11 charges, including the charge of illegal possession of firearms which could not be legally registered, would be pressed against Mr Premchai.

“The case is not weak definitely.  Whether he (Premchai) will show up to give his testimony or not, it will not weaken the case because the law states clearly that the accused’s testimony is not acceptable and should not be treated as a key factor,” said the deputy national police chief.

“No to Srivara” hashtag campaign (#ไม่เอาศรีวราห์) has been launched by pro-wildlife netizens who share their mistrust of the deputy police chief in the handling of the illegal hunting case.  The hashtag has been widely used in the social media.

Asked about the campaign against Pol Gen Srivara, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said that the police handling the case had been doing a good job and he would have to wait for the result of the police investigation before he could comment whether the police team investigating the case should be replaced or not.

He insisted that the case would be treated in a straightforward manner without any favoritism for the accused.

Meanwhile, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation reported that tests showed that the two leg bones found in a cooking pot belong to a female panther and the meat which was earlier thought to be a barking deer meat was, in fact, meat of a wild boar and the feces found near the hunting camp belong to human’s.

Panther’s DNA were also found in some of the kitchen utensils, according to the department.