The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has been asked to investigate a complaint by employees of the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) claiming they were deceived into investing in a provident fund.
About 100 PAT employees, accompanied by their lawyer Kritsana Inthamara, alleged they had been lured into switching from the existing pension programme on the promise of an initial PAT contribution worth 4 billion baht after they subscribed.
More than 2,000 PAT employees have now joined the fund which began in 2005, according to Mr Kritsana.
The lawyer said the PAT made the promise despite having no money to pay the initial contribution.
The sum would have been divided up among the members, with the exact amounts varying according to the length of their tenure.
The initial contribution was supposed to have been paid to the members in instalments over five years although none was forthcoming.
As a result, there had been insufficient funds in the members' individual provident accounts to invest in stocks. Mr Kritsana said the provident fund subscribers were doing substantially worse in terms of investment than those who had stayed with the existing pension programme.
The PAT's failure to transfer the 4 billion baht initial contribution has incurred losses to the employees, which may constitute fraud, misappropriation of funds and abuse of authority, the lawyer said.
The employees on Tuesday asked the DSI to accept their complaint as a special case. They were met by DSI spokesman Pol Maj Woranan Srilam, who said it will be forwarded for consideration.
