Panel to assess finding
Caretaker Deputy Interior Minister Sermsak Pongpanit said yesterday he would set up an independent committee to study a finding in the fire-truck corruption scandal involving the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).
He said the panel would be headed by people with known integrity like police inspector-general Pol General Seriphisut Temiyavej or Auditor General Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, if they agreed to be involved. It should be able to do the task within a month. Sermsak was speaking after receiving a copy of a report from Thai Rak Thai Party spokesman Sita Dhivari, who said the inquiry finding was the original version written by former university rector Boonserm Weesakul for the BMA - not an edited version the BMA recently handed to four government agencies for further scrutiny. He said the two previous findings commissioned by the BMA had named former interior minister Bhokin Bhalakula and former Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej in the scandal involving the purchase of Bt6.8 billion worth of fire trucks from Austrian manufacturer Steyr. "Both previous findings never named Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin, because this [Boonserm] finding was not available then," said Sita, who said he would give a copy of the Boonserm finding to the Royal Thai Police. But a deputy BMA spokesman called on Sita to stop claiming publicly that the BMA version of the finding had been edited. He said the TRT member risked being hit with a libel suit for defaming Boonserm and six other members of his panel who conducted the finding. A Steyr source said it was also considering suing Sita for his statement that a number of Steyr-made water tankers did not meet specifications and could not be used in Thailand. The source said the vehicles were made according to original specifications.
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