BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thai prosecutors on Thursday indicted 23 suspects including a construction tycoon and a Chinese state-owned firm for violations that led to the collapse of a building during a powerful earthquake, killing nearly a hundred workers.
The partially built 30-storey State Audit Office tower in Bangkok was the only building to collapse from tremors emanating from the powerful 7.7 magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar on March 28. At least 95 people were killed in the incident.
The construction of the State Audit Office building was a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development, one of Thailand’s largest construction companies, and China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd, a local unit of China’s state-owned China Railway Group.
Premchai Karnasuta, president of Italian Thai and an executive of China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd, was formally charged along with 21 other suspects for breaching construction regulations and causing death through negligence, said Sakkasem Nisaiyok, a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General, in a statement on Thursday.
Some other suspects have also been charged with forging engineering documents, the statement said.
Italian Thai Development did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Lawyers for other parties involved in the case, including China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd, could not be reached for comment.
Premchai along with 14 others denied all charges against them when they were arrested by police in May over the building collapse.
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by David Stanway)
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