iTV fine decision will not be reversed
The decision by the PM's Office to enforce the payment of concession fee and fines against iTV is final and not negotiable, Permanent Secretary Jullayuth Hiranyawasit said yesterday.
iTV is required to immediately pay the Bt2.21 billion concession fee before the end of the 45-day deadline, which began last Friday, to the PM's Office. However, the Bt97.76 billion fine can be paid within an extended period of time to be scheduled later on, he said. The PM's Office did not accept iTV's position that an arbitration sanction was still needed to rule on both the unpaid concession fee and the heavy fine. Jullayuth said iTV faced contract termination if it failed to pay the fee before the deadline. The Office of the Attorney General, meanwhile, said it would be known what legal action could be taken against iTV only after iTV announces what it would do to comply with the fee and fine obligations - or whether it would do nothing at all. Sa-nguan Tiyaphaiboolsin, a deputy attorney general tasked with handling the legal action against iTV, said he had not yet received a reply from the station, which had 45 days to say what it would do in response to the Supreme Administrative Court's verdict. In yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Surayud gave a promise that iTV staff, especially those involved in production, would not be affected in case it is ultimately ordered to stop operations and return the concession to the PM's Office. Meanwhile, relatives of people killed in the May 1992 uprising submitted a statement to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday, calling for a clear stance on iTV to ensure it fully serves the public. In a statement read by group leader Adul Kiewboriboon, the victims' relatives said iTV was created out of the blood, sweat and tears of people killed in street clashes with government forces in 1992 - a sacrifice never fully recognised by previous governments. "Both [Democrat and Thai Rak Thai] parties have never showed a clear position to maintain the ideological ground on which iTV was founded as a truly independent television station," he said. "The Thaksin Shinawatra government, in particular, exploited iTV extravagantly, sucking dry its core spirit and ideology and later selling it to a foreign company," Adul said. They called on the government to give an assurance that iTV would be allowed to operate freely from the influence of officials and businesses. The group of 50 relatives said they also disagreed with the iTV dispute going to arbitration.
Piyanart Srivalo The Nation
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