VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBK #1475 1360002
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150002Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3029
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC

UNCLAS BANGKOK 001475 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: KIPR ECON TH
SUBJECT:  THAILAND'S TOP IPR COP TRANSFERRED 
 
REF:  BANGKOK 419 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Thailand's lead police commander for IPR 
enforcement has been eased out of his position as part of a larger 
police shakeup.  Rights holders had given General Visut high marks 
for reinvigorating police action against IPR violators, with 
high-profile raids on manufacturers and distributors of pirated 
product.  However, his penchant for publicity earned him enmity from 
others.  His replacement is well-considered within the police force, 
but a general unknown in the IP community.  It remains to be seen 
whether he will place the same level of priority on IPR enforcement 
as had General Visut.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Effective May 1, Police General Visut Vanichbut, Commander 
of the Economic & Technological Crime Suppression Division (ECOTEC) 
and the lead police official on IPR enforcement in Thailand, was 
transferred to the Children, Juvenile and Women's Division.  General 
Visut's transfer was widely expected after his close ally National 
Police Chief Seripisut Temiyavej, who had strong links to the 
previous coup government, was himself pushed out in March by a newly 
elected administration.  Visut remains on the job as Acting 
Commander of ECOTEC until a royal endorsement of the police transfer 
list is signed. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Since assuming his post in February 2007, General Visut 
had been held in high regard by IP rights holders in Thailand.  Soon 
after the USTR announcement that Thailand would be elevated to the 
Special 301 Priority Watch List (PWL) for its continuing pervasive 
piracy problems, Visut declared he had taken it upon himself to 
remove Thailand from PWL.  He personally led a series of 
high-profile raids on pirated optical disc manufacturers resulting 
in large-scale seizures.  Rights holders praised his enthusiasm for 
IPR enforcement and his willingness to conduct ex officio actions, 
undertaking raids without waiting for requests from rights holders. 
Others, however, noted that although Visut appeared to be not 
personally corrupt, he demanded compensation for his forces' efforts 
from rights holders.  The practice was not uncommon in the past, but 
was brought to new levels by Visut.  His showboating style and 
credit-grabbing earned him enmity from other RTG officials. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) A not unwelcome casualty of Police Chief Seripisut's 
dismissal was the transfer of General Apichart Chuaeates, commander 
of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 6 and another close 
ally of Seripisut.  Apichart's division had jurisdiction over areas 
with the highest concentration of wholesale and retail piracy sales 
in Bangkok, and rights holders had earlier protested Apichart's 
unwillingness to undertake effective enforcement against IPR 
violators who in some cases operated just down the street from the 
district's main police station (see reftel). 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Visut's replacement will be General Kovit Wongrungroj, who 
will transfer over from the Railway Police Bureau after the police 
transfer list is endorsed by the palace.  Kovit is considered an 
able commander but is not widely known in the IPR community, and it 
remains to be seen if he will tackle Thailand's piracy problems with 
the same vigor.  Police officials say that General Visut had taken a 
particular interest in enforcing IPR laws, but at the expense of 
enforcing tax and finance laws which also fall within ECOTEC's 
responsibility.  In the interim between Visut's transfer and the new 
commander taking up post, rights holders say obtaining police 
manpower for IP raids has been extraordinarily difficult.  The 
Motion Picture Association's local representative told Econoff that 
raids on retail outlets of pirated product are off 80 percent since 
the transfer was announced. 
JOHN