Thai local administration chief denies sending Line message in Phuket transfer dispute

The director-general of Thailand’s Department of Provincial Administration has denied sending a Line chat message that allegedly said “help blue too,” responding to a complaint from Phuket’s provincial permanent secretary who said he had been transferred unfairly.

Narit Khotthasithivilai, director-general of the department under the Interior Ministry, said on May 29 that he did not send the message and did not know about it. He said his Line account is open to the public and connected to multiple devices, not only his mobile phone, so he could not say whether someone else may have written the message. He said, however, that he definitely had never sent it.

The dispute follows a complaint taken up by Phattharaphong Suphaksorn, also known as lawyer Aun Buriram, and lawmakers from the People’s Party on behalf of Rungreang Thimabut, Phuket’s provincial permanent secretary. Rungreang has alleged that he was reassigned to assist another office unfairly because he did not serve political interests.

Narit said he had never favored any political side in his official duties. He said the claims raised by Phattharaphong and Rungreang were an attempt to discredit him after the Department of Provincial Administration proposed that the Anti-Money Laundering Office examine the financial trails of several civil servants in Phuket, in what he described as an intensive probe linked to multiple targets.

He also rejected claims that five administrative officials were moved because they did not respond to political work. According to Narit, four of the five were district chiefs who already understood they had been reassigned temporarily so facts could be examined, and they knew clearly when they would be moved back. He said only the Phuket provincial permanent secretary had shown dissatisfaction.

The source report did not include a response from Rungreang to Narit’s latest remarks beyond the earlier complaint.