Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday ordered close scrutiny into the legal conclusion that the Information and Communication Technology Ministry had violated the Interior Ministry's regulations when producing "smart" ID cards.
When asked what would happen to the 26 million cards issued now that the Council of State has deemed them unusable, the prime minister evaded the question by saying he did not know the number was that large.
When asked how much damage the problem would cause, Abhisit said he did not know and that he had asked the Interior Ministry to come up with an estimate as well as find out what sort of cards and how many of them were issued.
Asked which agency would be held responsible, the PM said the Interior Ministry was looking into the matter.
The last joblot for 26 million cards was auctioned last June and a company won the Bt902million contract, but production was held back after the two ministries started squabbling over the lack of conditions included in the card.
Abhisit said he had assigned both ministries to look into the matter, and asked the Council of State to see if an amendment of relevant regulations was needed.
Asked if there might be corruption involved in the matter, Abhisit said: "There is nothing clear about it, because we are talking about a problem that occurred twice [in the first two auctions].
"As we work on the problem of the future issuance of the cards, the scope of problems include the ones already issued."