On March 28, a strong earthquake occurred in central Myanmar. The tremors were also felt in Thailand, and the National Audit Office building under construction in Bangkok collapsed.
According to Thai media Khaosod English, police officers from the Thai Department of Special Investigation (DSI) arrested Zhang Chuanling, general manager of China Railway 10th Bureau Thailand Company, at a hotel in Bangkok on Saturday (April 19). While under investigation, he requested an interpreter and legal representation.
The report said investigators were focusing on allegations that China Railway 10th Engineering Group Co., Ltd. used nominee shareholders to operate a company in Thailand and set up a joint venture with Italian-Thai Development Public Co., Ltd. to obtain a contract to build the National Audit Office building.
Thailand's Special Investigation Department has searched for evidence and recorded statements from witnesses at four key locations, and seized 24 containers in the parking lot of the collapsed Audit Office building, which contained important documents related to the construction site operations.
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In addition to Zhang's summons, the Special Investigation Department has also obtained court-approved arrest warrants for three other Thai shareholders.
These three Thai shareholders together own 51% of the shares of China Railway 10th Bureau Group Thailand Company, and one of them even holds only 0.0003%. Therefore, the three are suspected to be nominal shareholders. Zhang Chuanling alone owns 49% of the shares.
According to information released on China Railway’s official website in June 2020, Zhang Chuanling is the winner of the first China Railway Overseas Outstanding Contribution Award. He worked on the Sukimu International Airport project in Kenya, Africa in 2008 and went to Kenya again in 2015.
According to the official website of China Railway, with the active operation of Zhang Chuanling, China Railway 10th Bureau Thailand Co., Ltd. was established in September 2018, and he served as the general manager of the Thai company. In January 2019, with the Thai company as the core, the Tenth Bureau established the Asia-Pacific branch, the third regional foreign economic cooperation company in the system, and Zhang Chuanling served as the first general manager.
The official website of China Railway wrote: "Under the leadership of Zhang Chuanling, this new overseas force of the 10th Bureau quickly reversed the passive situation of language barriers, staff shortages, and blank business layout in a short period of time. Three months after its establishment, it successfully won the first order in the Thai market. Since then, multiple national market projects in the region have been implemented one after another. In the year of its establishment, the Asia-Pacific Branch of China Railway 10th Bureau, led by him, created an impressive performance of opening up three national markets, winning eight projects, and completing a total of 3.188 billion yuan (RMB, about 572 million Singapore dollars) in new contracts, showing a rapid development momentum."
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