"Executive of contractor for doomed Bangkok building arrested", 19 April 2025

The Department of Special Investigation has arrested a Chinese executive of the construction company that was building the State Audit Office tower in Bangkok, where dozens of people died when it collapsed during the … earthquake.

Zhang Chuanling was taken into custody at a hotel in the Ratchadaphisek area of the capital …, the DSI announced. He is one of four people sought on arrest warrants for being nominees of China Railway No.10 (Thailand) Co (CREC).

The three others are Thai nationals: Manas Sri-anan, Prachuap Sirikhet and Sophon Meechai, according to the DSI.

The four were listed as executives of the Thai subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned construction firm, which was in a joint venture with SET-listed Italian-Thai Development Plc. The two contractors formed the ITD-CREC consortium that was building the 30-storey State Audit Office headquarters in Chatuchak district of Bangkok…

The DSI said … that its investigators had looked into the shareholdings by Thai nominees and questioned witnesses. They said they had enough evidence to suspect the use of nominees, in breach of the Foreign Business Act of 1999.

They then obtained approval from the Criminal Court for arrest warrants for the four named executives of CREC…

Investigations by other agencies are also continuing into a variety of issues, including the suspected use of substandard steel in the construction of the building.

At the collapse site, meanwhile, rescue teams are now focusing on clearing rubble around the lift shaft, where the bodies of around 30 missing people are expected to be found…