BangkokPost-Oct 27
DNA tests have identified 24 more Chinese-born children whose Thai birth certificates wrongfully list unrelated Thai men as their fathers. They include infants, university students and working adults. Police also announced they had obtained 46 more arrest warrants in connection with the scandal, and those named included government officials and hospital personnel.
The investigation identified the 24 children whose Thai birth registrations were being examined, Pol Lt Gen Noppasin Poolsawat, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said on Tuesday. Eight hospitals were involved in those cases.
DNA samples from all 24 children were compared with those of the Thai men listed as their fathers on their birth certificates, their mothers and the men believed to actually be their biological fathers. The results showed that none of the Thai men were biologically related to the children, Pol Lt Gen Noppasin said. A total of 46 arrest warrants had been approved for government officials, hospital staff, foreign mothers, Thai men acting as nominee fathers, the children’s biological foreign fathers, and others allegedly involved in the improper use of civil registration procedures. Pol Lt Gen Noppasin detailed three cases uncovered by the crackdown, vowing to identify recruiters, brokers, certifiers, government officials and the ultimate beneficiaries of the scheme. One case involved 27-year-old Thaweesak, whose birth certificate listed Wanchai as his Thai father and Wunlee, a Chinese national, as his mother.
DNA tests revealed that his biological father was Chen Tonggen.
Pol Lt Gen Noppasin said the fraudulent registration had enabled Thaweesak to obtain Thai citizenship and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. He worked for an electrical cable company in Samut Prakan, earning about 30,000 baht a month. Thaweesak and his Chinese parents were arrested at their family residence in Bangkok’s Bang Khun Thian district. Wanchai, the man listed as his Thai father, said he had been approached 27 years ago to register a marriage with Wunlee for business purposes and received 5,000 baht in return. Read more at:
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