BMA hopes it can avoid Bt750m instalment

The Office of the Attorney General, which is pondering the BMA request, said yesterday that it had not yet decided on whether it would file a lawsuit against Steyr Daimler Puch to nullify the deal. Deputy Attorney General Seema Wannakowit said the OAG would decide within this week on whether or not it would represent the BMA over the matter.

Seema refused to give details about the split in the OAG commission on whether to help the BMA or turn down its request. However, he said the OAG panel would reach a final decision before August 10, which is the deadline for the payment. Under general administrative regulations, OAG is required to represent government agencies in criminal and civil cases. The BMA dropped its earlier idea to hire a private law firm to scrap the deal with Steyr and decided to rely solely on the OAG.

An OAG source said the BMA could be prosecuted for negligence if it agreed to pay the sixth Bt750million instalment without trying to save money by filing a lawsuit to scrap the deal.

The source said the OAG would have to officially announce its decision by Thursday, because a court injunction to halt the payment would have to be issued to the Krung Thai Bank, which does the BMA's monetary transactions, on Friday.