The authorities in Thailand have arrested an official linked to a Chinese state-owned company that was part of a consortium developing the only building that collapsed in Bangkok during last month’s earthquake, which killed dozens of people at the site.
The Thai police arrested the man, a Chinese national identified only by his surname, Zhang, in Bangkok on Saturday. He was held after a Thai court issued arrest warrants for four board members of a company called China Railway 10th (Thailand), according to Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation.
Local news media identified him as Zhang Chuanling, who worked for a subsidiary of China Railway 10th Engineering Group, a state-owned firm. The three others, all Thai nationals, are on the run.
The four men are accused of violating the Foreign Business Act, which forbids foreigners from owning more than 49 percent of a business. Investigators have found credible evidence, according to Thailand’s justice minister, Tawee Sodsong, that the company had used the three Thai people as stand-ins for other foreigners.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of Thailand is facing growing public pressure to account for the shocking collapse of the 30-story building, which was being built to house the nation’s State Audit Office. She has called for a full investigation into all projects in Thailand involving China Railway 10th, which was largely in charge of constructing the doomed building and whose contractors tried to remove documents from the site after the disaster. The company has about a dozen other projects in Thailand.
The swift toppling of the tower also drew widespread attention because the earthquake’s epicenter was more than 600 miles away, in neighboring Myanmar. The death toll in Thailand from the March 28 earthquake stands at 47, with another 47 still missing but almost certainly dead. Nearly all of the fatalities were at the building collapse.
The joint venture developing the tower included a Thai firm, Italian-Thai Development. But according to workers, daily operations were run by China Railway 10th.
Construction workers in Bangkok told The New York Times that China Railway 10th underpaid contractors, who turned to lower quality materials and used columns narrower than usual. Thai officials who tested twisted metal from the ruins said they found substandard steel bars — made by a Thai factory with Chinese owners that the authorities had shut down in December. An anti-corruption watchdog also said it had flagged construction irregularities.
A man called Zhang Chuanling is listed as a 49 percent shareholder in China Railway 10th (Thailand), according to the Thai company database. Mr. Zhang could not be reached for comment and it was unclear who his lawyer is.
Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting from Jakarta.
Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.
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