Veteran Democrat politician Kobsak Sabhavasu yesterday demanded the auditor-general probe the accounts of Thai Airport Ground Services (TAGS).

Kobsak's demand follows allegations that TAGS' new shareholders are nominees of a politically linked Thai interest group.

As the first commercial flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport touched down on Saturday, Kobsak revived claims about TAGS' allegedly dubious shareholding.

In December last year TAGS won the Suvarnabhumi Airport ground-services contract offered by Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT). There was no tender.

Questions over mysterious TAGS shareholdings remained unanswered, Kobsak said.

AoT owns 28.5 per cent of TAGS' shares.

AoT awarded a controversial 10-year contract to an obscure Singapore-based company that, through TAGS, would manage the new airport's 40,000-square-metre free zone logistics centre (FLC).

Kobsak claimed Singapore's Frobisher Pte Co Ltd was suspected of being a nominee of a politically linked Thai interest group.

Frobisher owns 48 per cent of TAGS' stock. The company's track record remains a mystery.

He said Frobisher had a registered capital of Bt2.4 million. The company identified its shareholders as a Singaporean lawyer, Thai investor Rawadi Jantawit and a trust fund.

Frobisher's accounts going back three years showed income in the first year of just Bt120. It increased to Bt200 in the second year.

"But media reports had Frobisher snapping up shares of British Airways and Lufthansa worth more than Bt200 million," Kobsak said.

Kobsak suspected large amounts of money were being spirited out of the country through TAGS. Evidence showed that before TAGS shares were purchased, TAGS spent Bt400 million to hire a consulting company for five months.

Consultant Detek was registered in the British Virgin Islands but its Singapore address was the same as that for Frobisher.

"We suspect the money was siphoned out of TAGS, which is not an ordinary private company but a company in which Thai state enterprises hold shares. The money was used to buy shares from the former shareholders. When a ghost company took up a major stake, it won the contract from AoT without having to bid,'' Kobsak said.

Relevant officials could not be reached yesterday for comment on Kobsak's allegations.

But, in December last year, Transport Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal dismissed the concerns.

He claimed no knowledge of Frobisher's shareholdings. But, its ownership was irrelevant as long as the company could do the job it was contracted to do, he said.

At that time an AoT source defended the decision to award TAGS the ground-services contract without holding a tender. The work was outsourcing, so bids were not necessary, the source said.

Kobsak yesterday called on Pongsak to take responsibility for allowing a ghost company to operate a business with a state enterprise.

The TAGS contract required reconsideration by the Cabinet, he said.

Kobsak questioned whether AoT knew about the Bt400 million TAGS spent hiring consultant Detek.

"The company meeting minutes for December 11 last year were altered. There was no report of the Bt400 million expense. But later that expense was detected in the accounts,'' Kobsak said.

Kobsak said the auditor-general had the authority to check TAGS' accounts because it was partly owned by Thai state enterprises.