• 
• 

Published on August 21, 2007

Apart from his emergence to end a conflict between his adviser Bannawit Kengrien and the transport minister, he has rarely appeared in public.

But he is still working diligently, at least as chairman of TOT. Last Wednesday, he paid a secret visit to Somprasong Boonyachai, CEO of Shin Corp, which is the parent company of Advanced Info Service - a key concessionaire of TOT.

It was strange. In public, TOT always says that AIS is breaching contracts. But the chairman sought a meeting with the chief of the concessionaire.

An insider said this was a normal visit, as Saprang is scheduled to visit other concessionaires. However, chiefs of other companies said there was no such request.

Explaining the visit could be the fact that Saprang and Somprasong have joined a national defence course. Moreover, Somprasong largely amazed Saprang with his extensive knowledge of the latter's family origin.

But if it were a personal visit, why was Saprang there as TOT chairman, accompanied by so many of his TOT team?

Busdsk@nationgroup.com