'No irregularity' in BMA water-tunnel project

Somsak said he had handed an investigative report by director of drainage and sewerage department Charnchai Pithoonpanyakit to Bangkok City Clerk Pongsak Semsan.

Related information from bribery investigation in Japan had not yet been delivered The BMA will request such information from the Japanese Embassy and the Foreign Ministry again in a week's time, Somsak said.

A former executive of Nishimatsu Construction is being investigated by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors.

He had admitted to a Japanese prosecutor that he had paid a bribe to Thai officials in return for favours connected to the awarding of a Bt2-billion tunnel project in 2003.

The Bangkok governor at that time was Samak Sundaravej.

Meanwhile, Thai Nishimatsu Construction, a subsidiary of the Nishimatsu Construction, reported its account audit, saying it did not receive such money from its headquarters in Japan.

It doubted whether the testimony of the Japanese executive to Japanese attorneys was correct, Somsak said. He said the hint of initials of names of three people involved could be a hoax.

The investigative panel would not investigate the issue as there was no ground nor witness. Pongsak said he would tomorrow report about the investigation to Apirak.

At the moment he could not say whether the allegation was true.

Prime Minister Samak said in his weekly programme yesterday there were other corruption allegations in BMA's projects during the term of other Bangkok governors but they had not been investigated.

Samak said while the tunnel project used baht funds not the yen curency, it had been "unreasonably linked" to the bribery, which was reported in yen.

The allegation in this case was blown up as some people hated him and wanted to attack him and his People Power Party, he said. See Saeng Karnyotha (1979) Co had formerly filed a complaint of bid collusion against the project, Samak said.

Among three bidders, the winning bid was for Bt2.155 billion while the budget was set at Bt2.178 billion.

The cost was negotiated down later by Bt83 million. Therefore, the bid collusion charge did not make sense, he said.

He slammed Democrat assistant secretary-general Thepthai Senpong for criticising him over the case.