Proposals to Sufficiency funds drawn up for communities

Up to 7.5 per cent of communities said they had not submitted any proposal, a recent survey showed.

The Office of Sufficiency Community surveyed some 100 communities after a corruption scandal hit its Sufficiency Community Project.

All communities covered in the survey submitted proposals to request funds under the project and their requests were approved. However, the survey showed something was wrong.

Despite their proposals, 80 per cent of the communities had yet to open a bank account to get the funds.

Of the communities that already had bank accounts, as many as 60 per cent wanted to change their proposals.

"The findings show someone has prepared the proposals and related documents on the communities' behalf," a source at the Office of Sufficiency Community said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai Party yesterday revealed the initial of a Democrat MP who it claims was seeking to embezzle money from the Sufficiency Community Project.

"His initial is P," Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said.

Pheu Thai acted on public complaints in checking alleged irregularities in the project.

"We've found grounds to believe that there is corruption going on," Prompong said.

The opposition party will submit its findings soon to Mechai Viravaidya, who has replaced Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu as chairman of the Sufficiency Community Project.

Korbsak, of the Democrats, resigned after the corruption scandal erupted.

Pheu Thai MP Anudit Nakornthap, who heads the opposition party's investigation into the scandal, said locals in the Yucharoen community in Bangkok's Din Daeng district said they planned to spend Bt200,000 from the project on kitchen appliances and a closed-circuit TV system but ended up receiving three electricity poles.

"I thought the poles cost just Bt30,000," Anudit said, "So, where's the remaining portion of the budget?"

He said 21 other communities in Din Daeng district also had similar complaints.

Instead of getting kitchen appliances and the closed-circuit television system, he said they had received street lamps and solar-water treatment vending machines.

"Locals were simply told that the stuff they requested was out of stock," Anudit said.

In a related development, Crime Suppression Division deputy commander Pol Col Supisal Phakdinaruenart said police were gathering evidence in various areas in Bangkok, the central provinces and many Northeast provinces after complaints that the project was mired with corruption.

"Our investigation is progressing. We've compiled a list of people accused of wrongdoing and are now checking whether they are really involved," Supisal said.

The Office of Sufficiency Community has approved proposals from 31,582 communities. Some 21,967 had already received their requested funds, worth Bt5.36 billion.