Bangkok authorities made mask-wearing compulsory starting today (Apr 26), reports the Bangkok Post.
Bangkok Governor Assawin Kwangmuang posted on Facebook this afternoon he had filed a complaint against the premier with police.
City Hall sprang into action after social media had criticised the PM. His FB showed him sitting with his face unprotected at the head of a meeting table at around 11am while everyone else was wearing a mask.
The photo was meant to promote the meeting on vaccine procurement at Government House. The post was later deleted.
In his Facebook post in the afternoon, Pol Assawin wrote Gen Prayut had asked him to check whether he had done wrong.
“I told him he had violated a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announcement which requires everyone in the capital to wear a mask at all times while outside his or her home or residence. Violation results in a fine up to B20,000 under Section 51 of the 2015 Disease Control Act,” he wrote.
Since investigators may determine the fine for the offence based on a fining regulation, Gen Prayut was asked to pay B6,000.
The Bangkok Governor, accompanied by the police chief and Dusit police investigators, then went to Government House to charge him and Gen Prayut agreed to pay the fine, wrote Pol Col Assawin.
While the maximum fine for the offence is B20,000, officials may consider charging less based on the regulation on fining, which stipulates B6,000 for the first-time offence, B12,000 for the second and B20,000 for the third onward.