Apirak battles back

Apirak

He was selected as the party's candidate because of his devotion to work, his determination despite the "many political obstacles" facing him, and the recognition he has received from local and international organisations, according to Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Despite those positive factors, however, Apirak is likely to be attacked by his rivals over his alleged involvement in the fire-engine scandal.

In March, Apirak offered to suspend his duties temporarily and appoint one of his deputies to act as caretaker after the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) accused him of being involved in the fire-engine scandal.

His move attracted a lot of barbs from critics, who described it as a popularity grab. At that time, certain Cabinet members refused to follow suit and voluntarily step back from their duties while they were under similar investigations by the AEC.

About a month later, Apirak returned to work. Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung refused to allow him to continue his temporary suspension.

Apirak's name was later cleared from the list of suspected wrongdoers.

After the governor was confirmed as the party's official candidate, Abhisit said yesterday Apirak was no longer one of the accused in the fire-engine case and that should be enough to guarantee his place as the Democrat candidate.

Apirak, 47, is set to complete his first four-year term on August 28. During his time in office, there have been three governments.

Born in Nonthaburi in March 1961, Apirak obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Chiang Mai University in 1983. Later he received a master's degree in management from the National Institute of Development Administration.

Apirak spent most of his working life in the corporate world. He began his career as a management trainee at Pizza Hut (Thailand) after receiving his bachelor's degree.

Later, he worked with many other companies, including Lintas Worldwide, Damask Advertising, Pepsi-Cola International Thailand, Frito-Lay Thailand and Grammy Entertainment.

In 2004, he left his business career behind to run for Bangkok governor. Before entering the political fray, Apirak was co-CEO of the mobile-phone operator TA Orange, which is currently known as True Move.

Apirak won the gubernatorial election with 911,441 votes. This was substantially less than the record over 1 million votes that his predecessor, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, won four years prior. Samak did not seek re-election as governor.

Apirak inherited from Samak a controversial deal for the purchase of fire engines for the city administration, which took over the duty of fire-fighting from the Police Fire Brigade.

The deal was later found to contain irregularities and a number of politicians involved with the procurement were accused of malfeasance, including Samak and former interior minister Bhokin Bhalakula.

Apirak was recently named among the suspected offenders in the fire-engine scandal, but the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) removed his name from the list of alleged wrongdoers.

The duty of investigating the fire-engine scandal has now been shifted to the National Counter Corruption Commission, which has took over the uncompleted cases from the AEC after the latter completed its term at the end of June.