Thai engineer denies involvement in SAO building collapse in Bangkok

A Thai engineer filed a report with the police on Monday after being wrongly identified as the supervisor of the collapsed State Audit Office (SAO) building.

At Wang Thonglang Police Station in Bangkok, Somkiat Chuesangsuk explained that he had been invited to oversee the construction project in 2020 by an acquaintance who works at PKW. 

However, although he had not formally declined the invitation, the acquaintance ceased all communication. He believes that employing someone with his expertise in civil and environmental engineering could have incurred an additional cost of up to 1 million baht.

Somkiat pointed out that his name appeared as the project supervisor following the collapse of the 30-storey SAO building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district, which occurred during the earthquake on March 28.

He suspects that the high wage associated with such a role may have been a motivating factor for the impersonation.



He firmly denied any involvement in the construction of the building, stating that he has not supervised any construction projects or signed related documents for the past 20 years.

Somkiat, who chairs the technician clinic subcommittee at the Council of Engineers, also noted that there is no record indicating he accepted any professional assignments through the organisation.

After raising the issue publicly on his Facebook page, he claimed that PKW attempted to negotiate a settlement in exchange for avoiding legal action. However, he insisted that this is unacceptable, emphasising that his name and signature have been falsely used for five years.

When asked whether he intends to take legal action against PKW, Somkiat said he would first consult a lawyer, citing concerns about the potential costs of court proceedings.

(2025/04/14-00:00)