For the country's sake, the Bt6.68-billion deal to purchase fire-fighting equipment from Austria should be scrapped - or the purchase cost lowered by half to the actual market price.

Taxpayers' money should be well spent, not wasted because a handful of senior government officials were either corrupt or incredibly ignorant.

This is by no means the time to use the issue to hurt political rivals or fish for political favours. Neither is it time to pass on the blame. It's high time that relevant authorities protect the national interest and correct this grossly overpriced deal.

Official investigators have said the deal will cost the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department Bt6.68 billion - or Bt8 billion with tax and duties. And similar fireboats, fire vehicles, water trucks and about the same amount of other fire-fighting gear should cost only Bt3 billion to Bt3.5 billion.

Given the enormous price difference, the top priority for the authorities should be to either scrap the deal, or fix it.

But the country cannot afford to let corrective action be the end of this scandal. The guilty need to be pursued and punished. The sum of money involved is even higher than the price of the CTX bomb-scanners for Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has already concluded that seven high-ranking officials, including former city and national officials, had key roles in manipulating this corrupt deal to import fire-fighting vehicles and equipment from Austria.

In addition to the excessively high price, it was clear the purchase breached Cabinet resolutions and other standard practices.

For example, the supplier was allowed to set the specifications and the procurement plan was completed hurriedly.

The Austrian supplier delivered 30 Thailand-made boats to the Bangkok fire Department at a cost of Bt25.4 million each, when similar craft were available here for Bt14.3 million each.

And while there are Austrian firms that are world-famous for the quality of their fire-fighting equipment, the Austrian supplier for the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department did not hire them.

Moreover, the deal also contained suspicious counter-trade elements, such as a giant agro-business being hired for Bt150 million to export chicken to Austria.

Given such irregularities, the DSI has now forwarded the case to the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC).

Even though the DSI did not reveal names, several high-profile figures immediately spoke up in their defence.

The deal can be traced back to 2004 when then interior-minister Bhokin Bhalakula signed an Agreement of Understanding with the then Austrian ambassador to Thailand, and named Steyr Daimler Puch as the supplier.

The Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department is a unit of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), which is supervised by the Interior Ministry.

Then acting Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej signed the purchase agreement with the Austrian supplier. However, current city Governor Apirak Kosayodhin ended up signing the Letter of Credit that allowed the purchase agreement to take effect.

All of the major players - Bhokin, Samak, and others - have professed innocence. Apirak said this week he was pressed repeatedly by the Interior Ministry before he agreed to sign the Letter of Credit.

Perhaps the best way for them to clear their names is to allow the DSI to probe their finances. If they are innocent, their accounts shouldreveal if this is so.

Chularat Saengpassa

The Nation