AEC urged to investigate 8 shady deals
A former senator from Surat Thani yesterday petitioned the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to investigate eight suspicious projects launched by the previous government.
"I believe evidence is sufficient to unmask and punish culprits in the Thaksin Shinawatra regime," Anan Dalodom said. The eight projects include the alleged embezzlement stemming from the Bt5.6-billion budget earmarked to compensate for land appropriation to build reservoirs in rural areas. Other suspected irregularities involved the purchase of 130,000 tonnes of compost in 2002, the Bt4.7-billion price-intervention scheme for dried longan in 2002, the storage of dried longan in 2004, and the Bt14.2-billion deal to export rice in 2004. The remaining three projects are the Bt1.8-billion campaign to promote Bangkok as a fashion capital, the rice-pledging schemes for the previous four years, and the 2006 Royal Flora Ratchaphruek horticultural exposition. In a related development, Public Health Ministry counsel Sujin Siriapai said the AEC should look into the Bt900-million computer procurement scandal in 2004. Sujin filed documents relating to the procurement as evidence for the AEC to launch its investigation. The scandal broke under the watch of former public health minister Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan. Critics claimed that the bidding process was fixed to favour a supplier close to the family of ousted premier Thaksin.
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