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Published on November 24, 2007

The commander of the Economic and Technological Crime Suppression Division (Ecotec) levelled the claims that sparked the internal probe.

Police chief General Seripisut Temiyavej said Maj-General Wisut Wanichbutr of Ecotec would be held responsible for his statement, which came as Ecotec teams seized more than 100,000 pirated discs earlier this week.

He claimed then that Metropolitan Police Division 6 received a Bt40-million monthly bribe from bootleggers active in Klong Thom and nearby.

Seripisut said the news media could be in trouble too for publishing statements from a group of entertainers and a film-producer accusing the division of negligence in tackling widespread copyright infringement in its jurisdiction.

The police chief accused some music- and film-producers of secretly allowing pirated copies to be made and benefiting from rewards for tip-offs leading to arrests and seizures.

In many cases producers assigned lawyers to intimidate copyright-violators into demanding kickbacks to settle disputes, he said.

"Don't pay too much attention to what they [entertainers] say. Let's measure their sincerity and honesty and mine and see who has more," he added.

Wisut declined to comment on the investigation. He did, however, say he had made no defamatory remarks about the division.

He said tape of a Channel 9 programme should be aired again to determine whether he had said anything actionable about Division 6 officers.

He said he would wait for the completion of the internal investigation. He said his statement on television "says it best" and he had not slandered police officers.

The Nation