Alongkorn yesterday called on the Department of Special Investigation to formulate serious criminal charges against the defendants. He was worried the charges of malfeasance were not tough enough and would not carry weight at the prosecution stage.

Seven people have been implicated by the department in the fire-equipment-purchase scandal, including Democrat deputy leader and Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin.

Alongkorn believed the National Counter Corruption Commission would drop charges of exceeding authority against the seven.

He said the department indictment accused the defendants

of malfeasance only - a cat-

chall charge for many kinds of

civil servant and political wrongdoing.

It was also easily defeated with minimal defence evidence, he alleged.

Alongkorn wanted the charges to reflect the defendants' alleged rigging of fire-vehicle specifications to inflate the value of the purchase contract value.

He implicated caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and then Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai in the scam.

The indictment alleged the actions of the defendants resulted in losses to the taxpayer of between Bt3 billion to Bt5 billion.

Alongkorn encouraged the department to consider adding "conspiracy to unlawfully benefit" charges as well as the defendants' failure to conduct a feasibility study ahead of the purchase.