Published on January 20, 2006

ILLEGAL IMPORTS: Customs told to stop selling cars

Finance Minister Thanong Bidaya has ordered the Customs Department to stop auctioning illegally imported cars, as part of his effort to curb corruption.

Thanong said yesterday that seized illegally imported cars and other products were a source of corruption, after the importers repurchased their goods at auctions organised by the Customs Department.

Businessmen, officials and policemen colluded over the smuggling activities, said Thanong, adding that the cars would instead be sold to government agencies. Last year, the Customs Department netted about Bt800 million from its car auctions.

He also plans to overhaul the shipping business which is blamed for passing money under table from importers and exporters to officials at the Customs Department in exchanging for faster clearance services.

ITV-GMM TIE-UP: Bid report denied

Paiboon Damrongchaitham, GMM Grammy’s chairman, yesterday denied reports that the company plans to buy a stake in iTV. He said there had been no official discussions between GMM Grammy and iTV on the issue.

Howeber, Paiboon said he was interested in the television business but would consider getting into it later. “I have had no official discussions with iTV on any stake-buying issue and iTV itself has some legal constraints. But, it may be another story in the future,” he said.

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