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Published on February 9, 2008

Saprang Kalayanamitr yesterday said he would resign as chairman of both TOT and Airports of Thailand (AOT) next week.

Saprang said he would speak about the performances of both boards at that time and also "clarify" all of the accusations centring on him before his resignations.

"I've been the target of allegations, but I never think badly of anyone," he added.

Rumours are rife that Saprang and his close friends took advantage of his chairmanships, gaining personal interest from TOT and AOT. However Saprang claims someone else used his name to gain personal benefits at the two state agencies.

Yesterday Saprang asked the press to investigate the cases without being afraid of him. "I want all of you to probe the cases," he told the press.

Saprang assumed his post at TOT last February. Yesterday he said that he was proud of himself for working on the TOT board and never gaining personal benefit from his position.

The TOT board has already approved the company's turnaround plan involving job cuts and the spending of Bt63 billion to roll out a cutting-edge network from 2007-10.

Early last year, TOT's labour union asked the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry to sack its board, citing the board's lack of management experience.

When asked by the press whether he would accept the TOT chairman post again if invited to do so by Mun Patanotai, the new ICT minister, Saprang said he would decline such an offer.

On Thursday, Mun said that the TOT board directors could inform him if they wanted to continue in their posts.

Meanwhile, the board of CAT Telecom resigned from his post on Thursday after presenting its performance report to its management. Some CAT employees said the board had shown no outstanding performance, due to a lack of progress on many key projects.

The state agency has yet to finish talking with Hong Kong telecom giant Hutchison Telecom on a possible collaboration to market cellular service via their two separate networks.

CAT has its own Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1-x cellular network in 51 provinces, while Hutchison-CAT, a joint venture of CAT and the Hong Kong telecom giant, has operated a similar network in 25 provinces.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation