The arrests were made after an emergency declaration of the disaster, following a monstrous 7.7 magnitude earthquake on May 28th that took place in neighboring country Myanmar, which was felt across the nearby states.
The 29-story State Audit Office tower tumbled in with the crane. There was a mag 5 quake in the last year, and it had only one building fall down in Bangkok.
At least 95 construction workers lost their lives in the incident, according to official figures.
Charges for Top Executives and Firms
It was being built as a joint venture between Italian-Thai Development, one of Thailand's largest construction firms, and China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd (CNR), the Thai-based subsidiary of Chinese state-owned enterprise China Railway Group.
Premchai Karnasuta, chairman of Italian-Thai Development, is among those facing charges, as well as senior executives from China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd, and Thai prosecutors say the accused broke construction regulations and were culpable for fatalities caused by wrongful conduct.
Some of the suspects were also charged with forging engineering documents, while others were not.
Italian-Thai Development did not respond to requests for comment, and lawyers for China Railway Number 10 (Thailand) Ltd could not be reached.
Suspects Deny All Charges
In May, an arrest warrant was issued for Premchai and 14 others in relation to the incident. So far, all of them have denied the charges to the police during their initial questioning.
The case has gained national prominence because of the scale of the tragedy and the size and involvement of leading contractors in the construction sector.
The Thai justice system tries to move on with the legal proceedings following one of the deadliest construction disasters in recent years.
