The family of the late Samak Sundaravej, former governor of Bangkok, may pay 587 million baht plus interest in compensation for the purchase of 315 fire trucks and 30 fire boats. The administrative court ruled that yesterday in a case brought by the municipality of Bangkok.
In 2004, Samak signed a contract with the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch Specialfahrzeug AG for an amount that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) determined was far too high. [Read: That bribes were paid.] According to the NACC, five people had to be held responsible for this, including Samak and former State Secretary Pracha Maleenont (Internal Affairs).
Pracha (top right portrait) fled the country after the Holders of Political Positions section of the Supreme Court sentenced him to 12 years in prison. She also found the former fire chief (portrait bottom right) guilty. Three others were acquitted for lack of evidence.
Pracha has asked the administrative judge to reject the municipality's petition. The judge not only refused, but also ordered him to pay 30 percent of the amount.
Samak's relatives are appealing. They believe that the administrative court has no jurisdiction, but that this case belongs to the civil court.
Two of the three persons who were acquitted by the Supreme Court and who were also held liable by the municipality do not have to pay anything, the administrative court ruled.
The fire trucks and fire boats were manufactured in Thailand at the time and provided with the necessary equipment in Austria. After delivery they have never been used. That will remain so as long as the case against the Austrians is before the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in Geneva. The municipality is trying to have the contract terminated. She has already paid 2 billion baht of the 6,687 billion baht charged by Steyr.
(Source: Bangkok Post, May 1, 2014)
I see something like this with mixed feelings. Those who order from Steyer-Puch get the best that is for sale on this market together with FAUN. If the Thais think that they get these kinds of vehicles from this company for the price of a pick-up, they are misinformed. I am curious to know how Thais who normally do not leave their country can determine and know for sure what such a TOP vehicle will cost?
@ Top Martin It has been written often enough: in government contracts, approximately 30 percent can be attributed to bribes. You can guess which bags they ended up in in this case. So don't want to buy anything for next to nothing, but increase the price (the newspaper always talks about an inflated price).
I understand that this verdict comes AFTER the death of that gentleman. A dead person cannot be accused in a criminal case, at least not under EU law. I see this as a civil case and then the heirs may be liable, but never to higher amounts than their inheritance. And 600 million baht is no cat piss; that is almost 15 million euros and there are days when I don't have something like that in my pocket! But possibly sir left a huge fortune.
It is another case where the poor rice farmer who does not earn 200 baht a day thinks his way. The high gentlemen rotz…. but come on, we can bleed for it.
@Erik: The article refers to the 'administrative judge'. He has rendered a verdict, with which the next of kin do not agree. Their right. They appeal because they believe that the case belongs to the 'civil court'.
There is no mention of a criminal court in the article. This does not concern one of the deceased main characters in the affair, but relatives who are supposed to repay wrongly acquired funds. I don't think it's an inheritance.
Whether a criminal court will be involved further is not stated in the article. I do consider that applicable if 30% of the amount mentioned in the article can be regarded as added in order to facilitate corruptive acts.
In addition, there are indeed many people in TH who think their own. Among them certainly rice farmers. But what I wonder is why you then say: “The high lords rotz…. but come on, we can bleed for it.” Why 'we'? What 'we'? Explain yourself!
Can we just assume that the BP doesn't know everything, but does have a nice story?. If we assume that 99.9% of the Thais do not know the price of a Mercedes CDI200 at a dealer in Bangkok, it seems to me that some Thai commission knows what a fire truck costs in Europe.
It seems clear to me that a Thai Family, who is the most powerful, must be killed here. What is more obvious than to try a corruption process?