Road-building firms to face criminal suits
A criminal lawsuit will be filed next month against a group of private firms involved in 16 road-building projects with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, which allegedly had irregularities, DSI Special Criminal Litigation Office Commissioner Colonel Suchart Wonganantchai said yesterday.
Last week the DSI submitted a report for the National Counter Corruption Commission in regard to officials and two private companies – Civil Engineering Co Ltd and Epsilon Co Ltd – allegedly involved in tailoring bid specifications. Next month investigators will ask the criminal court to file a criminal suit against a group of contraction companies identified by evidence as being involved in the bidding irregularities, Suchart said. A source on the investigation team said the inquiry pointed to several companies being involved in the irregularities and indicated that tender offers showed no real competition, as bid-winning prices were only 0.2-0.4 per cent lower than the prices set by the BMA. The DSI would ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to use its super computer to trace the “money routes” of these companies, the source said. Epsilon, which faces a charge that it helped rig specifications for the road projects, was initially found to have links with a BMA executive, who was its co-founder. Also, a search of the company’s premises found many construction plans that were the same as the BMA project plans given to bidders, the source said. On Tuesday, a BMA-appointed inquiry panel found five senior officials including the city clerk were to blame for malfeasance in connection with the irregularities. City Clerk Nathanon Thavisin appeared stressed yesterday and refused to talk to reporters about the matter. Nathanon said she would wait for the panel, headed by former police chief Pratin Santiprabhob, to hold a press conference about the matter. The panel inquiry identified the city clerk, a deputy governor, a public works director, a deputy public works director and a C-8 civil engineer guilty of dereliction of duty in overseeing the bidding and failing to act on a warning of possible irregularities by the Interior Ministry. The panel did not recommend if they should be suspended from duty. That was left for the governor to decide. Apirak said the panel should submit its report this week, and if the officials were found guilty, a committee would be set up to follow civil servant procedures.
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