A top Thai conservation official was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, with police saying he was caught receiving a bribe and that $144,000 in cash was found in his office.

Rutchada Suriyakul na Ayutya, director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, was appointed in February.

He managed efforts to protect the kingdom's environment and endangered animals, overseeing more than 150 national parks.

"The officials have arrested him while the money was exchanged, so the evidence was quite clear," said Jaroonkiat Pankaew, chief of the Anti-Corruption Division.

Police searched Rutchada's office in the capital, Bangkok, after he was detained and found roughly 5 million baht ($144,000) in cash, Jaroonkiat said.

Rutchada has denied all the charges.

Images shared by Thai police showed stacks of money, with brown envelopes underneath.

"Officials have collected 98,000 baht as evidence," Jaroonkiat said.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said in a statement Rutchada had "abused his power by receiving money from his inferiors, in exchange for maintaining their positions".

The NACC alleged Rutchada's subordinates had been forced to pay a monthly tithe, in addition to a one-off payment of up to 300,000 baht, or face relocation to "remote places far away from their hometown".

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Increasing forest cover in the Eifel region 11,000 years ago resulted in the local loss of megafauna
Mainz, Germany (SPX) Dec 22, 2022
Herds of megafauna, such as mammoth and bison, have roamed the prehistoric plains in what is today's Central Europe for several tens of thousands of years. As woodland expanded at the end of the last Ice Age, the numbers of these animals declined and by roughly 11,000 years ago, they had completely vanished from this region. Thus, the growth of forests was the main factor that determined the extinction of such megafauna in Central Europe. This is the conclusion reached in a study conducted by Prof ... read more