Thai Airways staff accused of faking their deaths
Some Thai Airways staff members have been accused of ‘faking their own deaths’ in order to claim company funded funeral allowances.
Staff accused of doing this are still working for the company, suggesting there has been little or no oversight at the airline over the funeral allowance requests.
The airline said it has been going on for years with 26 suspicious cases dating back to 2013, the National Thailand reported.
To claim funeral expenses, the employee’s family is required to submit a death certificate.
"We checked the evidence they submitted and found that the death certificates appeared to be fake, as the persons declared dead are still working for the company," said Weerayut Thuankong, an official at the Savings Cooperative for Employees of Thai Airways International.
"The Cooperative has found that the number of members filing for funeral allowance has increased suspiciously over several years."
The Cooperative has filed a police complaint.
"We only have evidence until 2013, but we believe there could be more members who have committed this fraud before that."
The fake death certificates have cost the airline an estimated THB14 million ($467,000).in payouts.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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