• 
• 

Published on September 23, 2007

Suriya Jungrungreang-kit, the former transport minister overseeing construction of the Bt120-billion-plus Suvarnabhumi Airport, appears to have been spared in an alleged corruption case being investigated by the Asset Examination Committee (AEC).

Only lower-ranking senior officials of the ministry and New Bangkok International Airport (NBIA), which implemented the project, such as Srisook Chandrasook, former permanent secretary for transport, will be indicted, said AEC sources.

Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, chairwoman of the AEC subcommittee investigating the multimillion-baht underground cable system for Suvarnabhumi, said this high-profile case would be wrapped up next month.

Suriya, once a trusted aide of now ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was earlier said to be one of the members of the former Thaksin Cabinet who would probably be prosecuted following last year's coup.

Widespread corruption was cited as a major reason by the military for overthrowing the elected Thaksin administration.

AEC sources said the Jaruvan subcommittee believed that Suriya was innocent of corruption in the matter of the underground cable system, even though the former minister had direct oversight of this project.

Based on the Office of the Auditor-General's report on this matter, Jaruvan said only Srisook, Somchai Somprasong (former chief of NBIA) and Adithep Nakvisut of Airports Authority of Thailand were named as alleged wrongdoers.

She said Suriya had recently written to the AEC clarifying his role in the airport project. In his letter, the former minister denied that he had had any role in fixing the specifications for this lucrative procurement scheme to favour any particular bidders.

Suriya said this had been the responsibility of the board of NBIA, which drafted the specifications for the project. At that time, however, Suriya was told by the Office of the Auditor-General to take action over the alleged wrongdoing, but reportedly he did not.

AEC sources said the subcommittee would give all alleged wrongdoers until the end of next month to answer the charges, after which the cases would be submitted to the AEC's board for a final decision.

If endorsed by the AEC's board, the cases will be sent to the Office of the Attorney-General, which will be responsible for filing charges in court.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry will next week seek Cabinet approval for the Army to buy 96 armoured vehicles from Ukraine in a deal worth Bt3.8 billion. Originally only 48 vehicles were to be purchased in a government-to-government transaction.

The Bt3.8-billion budget will cover four fiscal years from 2007-2010. The contract will cover training of Army personnel, technology transfer and maintenance.