Official probe into scandal set to begin
Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin has filed official complaints against five people implicated in a scandal over new fire-fighting equipment for the city.
A Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) source said the complaint was filed on Friday, enabling the Assets Investigation Committee (AEC) to hand the matter over to public prosecutors. The five were earlier found to have cases to answer by the AEC. Last month the AEC body named former interior minister Bhokin Bhalakula, his then-deputy Pracha Maleenont, then-assistant secretary Somsak Khunngern, former Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej and Police Maj-General Atilak Tanchukiat, who heads the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department. It said there were grounds to investigate the five for allegedly corruptly preparing an overpriced deal to buy fire vehicles from Austrian supplier Steyr Daimler Puch. The deal is worth Bt6.68 billion. It has been estimated to be overpriced by Bt1.9 billion. If an official investigation reaches the same conclusions the AEC can ask state prosecutors to charge the five in the Supreme Court's Political Crime Division, the source said.
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