Police General Sereepisuth Temeeyaves ( th, เสรีพิศุทธ์ เตมียเวส; , originally: Seri Temeeyaves; th, เสรี เตมียเวส; born 3 September 1948) was Commissioner of the

Royal Thai Police The Royal Thai Police (RTP) ( th, สำนักงานตำรวจแห่งชาติ; ) is the national police force of Thailand. The RTP employs between 210,700 and 230,000 officers, roughly 17 percent of all civil servants (excludi ...

between February 2007 and April 2008. Appointed

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

Commissioner of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

by a

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

, replacing

Kowit Wattana Kowit Wattana ( th, โกวิท วัฒนะ; born 11 March 1947 in Phak Hai) is a Thai Police General and politician. From 2004 to 2007 he was the Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police. In 2008, he was Minister of the Interior, a ...

, the Police Commissioner under deposed Premier

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra ( th, ทักษิณ ชินวัตร; ; ; Chinese: 丘達新; cnr, Taksin Šinavatra; born 26 July 1949), is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, ...

. Sereepisuth was removed from office in April 2008 by then prime minister Samak Sundaravej under charges of corruption. PM to look into allegations of corruption of Gen Seripisut Sereepisuth gained his reputation from targeting mafia leaders like "Kamnan Poh" (

Somchai Khunpluem Somchai Khunpluem, alternatively spelled Kunplome ( th, สมชาย คุณปลื้ม; 30 September 1937 – 17 June 2019), was a Thai politician, businessman and organized crime boss. He was also known by the nickname ''"Kamnan Poh"'' ( ...

) and "Por Pratunam" (Phaijit Thammarojphinij). The junta also appointed him Director of the

Airports of Thailand Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT) ( th, บริษัท ท่าอากาศยานไทย จำกัด (มหาชน)) is a Thai public company. It manages Thailand's six international airports and will add fou ...

, along with Chairman General

Saprang Kalayanamitr General Saprang Kalayanamitr ( th, สพรั่ง กัลยาณมิตร; , also known as Poei ( th, เปย) or Big Poei ( th, บิ๊กเปย), born 8 July 1948 in Lampang, Thailand) is a retired officer of the Royal Thai A ...

. He chairs the Friends of Seri Foundation, which was engaged in controversial loans to junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee and National Legislative Assembly member Thanaboon Jiranuwat. He is married to Phatsaweesiri Thepchatri Temeeyaves ( th, พัสวีศิริ เทพชาตรี เตมียาเวส) and has three children.

Early life

He was born and raised in historic

Thonburi __NOTOC__ Thonburi ( th, ธนบุรี) is an area of modern Bangkok. During the era of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, its location on the right (west) bank at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River had made it an important garrison town, which i ...

(in an area currently assigned to

Nonthaburi Nonthaburi ( th, นนทบุรี, ) is the principal city of the district and province of the same name in Thailand. On 15 February 1936, Nonthaburi town municipality (''thesaban mueang'') was established, which only covered Suan Yai ...

) to a Teochew background family, his surname was given by

King Vajiravudh Vajiravudh ( th, วชิราวุธ, , 1 January 188126 November 1925) was the sixth monarch of Siam under the Chakri dynasty as Rama VI. He ruled from 23 October 1910 until his death in 1925. King Vajiravudh is best known for his effort ...

in 18 march 1914, list 2081. Seri graduated from the 8th class of the

Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School The Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School or AFAPS (Thai: โรงเรียนเตรียมทหาร) is a senior high school in Nakhon Nayok Province. It is a flagship institution of the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters. The ...

and graduated in the 24th class of the

Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

. He took part in anti-communist operations in the Northeast, where he became close friends with Manoonkrit Roopkachorn. Because of this association, he was purged from the police after the

NPKC Coup The National Peace Keeping Council (NPKC) ( th, คณะรักษาความสงบเรียบร้อยแห่งชาติ) was the name assumed by a Thai military junta that overthrew the elected civilian government of Cha ...

of 23 February 1992. He was later rehabilitated and allowed back into the police force. As Assistant Director of the 2nd Region Police, Seri was in charge of the 1994 arrest of "

Kamnan Poh Somchai Khunpluem, alternatively spelled Kunplome ( th, สมชาย คุณปลื้ม; 30 September 1937 – 17 June 2019), was a Thai politician, businessman and organized crime boss. He was also known by the nickname ''"Kamnan Poh"'' ( ...

" in the ''Khao Mai Kaew'' land corruption case. In 2003, a court found the influential Kamnan Poh guilty and sentenced him to jail. Seri rose through the ranks of to become Inspector-General. Under the government of

, he was assigned to several high-profile corruption cases, including the longan subsidy scandal, the Bobae mafia case, and the Government Public Warehouse rice screening case. Sereepisuth came into conflict with Army officer Maj General

Khattiya Sawasdipol Khattiya Sawasdipol ( th, ขัตติยะ สวัสดิผล; ; 2 June 1951 – 17 May 2010), alias Se Daeng ( th, เสธ.แดง, 'red commander'), was a major general in the Royal Thai Army, assigned to the Internal Security Ope ...

of the

Internal Security Operations Command ('Conquer evil by the power of good') , logo = , logo_width = 150 , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = 200px , seal_caption = , picture = นายกรัฐมนตรี เป็น� ...

while investigating the "

Por Pratunam Por or POR may refer to: Por *Por (Thai word) *Por, Armenia, a town * Por, a Spanish preposition * Por, a Portuguese preposition POR * POR (gene), cytochrome P450 reductase * Power-on reset * Program of Record (PoR), a term used in US governmen ...

" gambling den of Phaijit Thammarojphinij. Sereepisuth filed a libel lawsuit against Khattiya, although Khattiya was acquitted in November 2006. After Sereepisuth was promoted to Police Commissioner General, Khattiya filed a 600 million baht defamation suit against him.

Police Commissioner General

On 5 February 2007, Sereepisuth was appointed Police Commissioner General by the military junta that had overthrown the government of

on 19 September 2006. He replaced

, who had served as Police Commissioner General under the Thaksin government. There was great speculation about the motivation behind the replacement, as Kowit had earlier arrested several military personnel for alleged involvement in the 2006 Bangkok New Year's Eve bombings.

Purging of the police force

In his first staff reshuffle, Sereepisuth transferred Metropolitan Police Commissioner Viroj Chantarangsi to the provinces in the Lower North. Those close to former Commissioner Kowit Wattana and deposed Premier Thaksin Shinawatra were transferred to inactive posts. At the same time, he promoted police officers with close connections to him to powerful posts. Viroj, a classmate of Kowit, was replaced by Adisorn Nonsi, a former close aid of Sereepisuth. Pol Lt-Gen Thawornsak Thepchatree, an elder brother of Sereepisuthh's wife, was appointed adviser to the National Police Office. Pol Lt-Gen Jettanakorn Napeetaphat, who is married to the sister of Prime Minister Surayud's wife, replacing Pol Lt-Gen Adul Sangsingkeo in dealing with the South Thailand insurgency as Region 9 Commissioner.

Criticism of Prem Tinsulanonda

Sereepisuth came under fire for his role in a petition to remove General

Prem Tinsulanonda Prem Tinsulanonda ( th, เปรม ติณสูลานนท์, , ; 26 August 1920 – 26 May 2019) was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Thailand from 3 March 1980 to 4 August 1988, ...

from his leadership of King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej ( th, ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช; ; ; (Sanskrit: ''bhūmi·bala atulya·teja'' - "might of the land, unparalleled brilliance"); 5 December 192713 October 2016), conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Great ...

's Privy Council. Police Special Branch Commander Lt-General Theeradech Rodpho-thong refused to file charges of lèse majesté against activists who launched a petition, claiming that the law only applied to members of the royal family. Two days later, he was demoted by Sereepisuth.

Relationship with the junta

Sereepisuth often sided with the Council for National Security (CNS) rather than his own staff. After numerous bombs were exploded simultaneously on 27 May 2007 in Hat Yai, the police Special Branch claimed it was confident that the explosions were linked to the southern insurgency. The Special branch cited intelligence reports from two days before the blasts warning that two youngsters from the southern provinces were sneaking explosive devices into Songkhla. However, the CNS spokesperson claimed that there was reason to believe that the bombs were set off by people who were losing political power, a common euphemism for the deposed government of

. Sereepisuth agreed with the CNS. Junta critic Maj Gen

was convicted for defaming and sentenced to jail for four months in jail after he criticised Sereepisuth's crackdown on gambling dens.

Friends of Seri Foundation controversy

Sereepisuth is the Chairman of the Friends of Seri Foundation and involved in controversial loans made to businessman and junta-associate Thanaboon Jiranuwat. Thanaboon's construction business was losing money, and he received an 18% interest-rate loan from Sereepisuth's foundation in September 1996. Thanaboon wrote 14 cheques worth 300,000 baht each to the foundation as repayment. Thanaboon's banks returned the cheques unpaid, and Sereepisuth sued Thanaboon. Thanaboon was acquitted by the Criminal Court but convicted on appeal. He later appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing the loan agreement violated the foundation's objectives and regulations, and that the interest rate was above Bank of Thailand limits. On 8 February 2007, the Supreme Court upheld Thanaboon's conviction in which Thanaboon was sentenced to 40 months in jail.

Kühne + Nagel tax evasion controversy

On 8 March 2007, Akbar Khan submitted a request to investigate alleged

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

by Kühne + Nagel to Sereepisuth in his office. Two weeks later, Sereepisuth's secretaries claimed that the request was lost. The request was later resubmitted to Sereepisuth's deputies. Khan claimed that the deputies noted that the case was not worthy of investigation. When questioned about the matter by Khan in public, Sereepisuth said he could not recall meeting with him, but promised to follow up on the matter.General Seripisuth is asked about the Kuehne and Nagel tax evasion investigation
/ref>

Removal from office

Sereepisuth was removed from office in April 2008 by the elected government of

Samak Sundaravej Samak Sundaravej ( th, สมัคร สุนทรเวช, , ; 13 June 1935 – 24 November 2009) was a Thai politician who briefly served as the Prime Minister of Thailand and Minister of Defense in 2008, as well as the leader of the Peo ...

under charges of corruption. His supporters, however, claim that these charges are put-up jobs to punish him for prosecuting many cases against the militarily deposed former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

References

External links

Sereepisuth.com
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Temeeyaves, Sereepisuth

Sereepisuth Temeeyaves Police General Sereepisuth Temeeyaves ( th, เสรีพิศุทธ์ เตมียเวส; , originally: Seri Temeeyaves; th, เสรี เตมียเวส; born 3 September 1948) was Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police ...

Living people 1948 births