Ministers lax in tackling graft : AEC

CORRUPTION PROBE

Ministers lax in tackling graft : AEC

Kaewsan says only two ministers have bothered to check allegations. Assets Examination Committee (AEC) secretary Kaewsan Atibodhi yesterday criticised ministers for failing to crack down on corruption.

Kaewsan was speaking after Democrat Party deputy leader Alongkorn Pollabutr forwarded additional evidence regarding allegations of corruption surrounding the hiring of Airport Ground Services by Airports of Thailand to manage a duty-free zone and logistics centre without any bidding.

Kaewsan said the AEC had not yet decided to investigate the allegation because it had its hands full with the 12 cases assigned to it.

He questioned all ministers except two for failure to take action. "I have not seen any ministers doing anything. I wonder what they are doing,'' he said.

Kaewsan complimented Labour Minister Apai Chandanachulaka for checking corruption allegations over the construction of buildings and Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom for checking concession-fee payments.

Meanwhile, Auditor-General Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, who chairs an AEC subcommittee considering allegations about the purchase of an underground power system for Suvarnabhumi Airport, said she would offer to be a member of an investigative panel today.

AEC subcommittee member Uthai Sonlaksub, who had been investigating a rubber plantation case, questioned why he was no longer invited to attend meetings.

He said he had stopped releasing news to the media after the subcommittee had warned him.

"They still do not invite me to the meetings. If they think I am not useful any more, they should have told me to quit the panel,'' he said.

A source said the committee will wrap up the corruption investigation into the purchase of 90 million rubber samplings worth Bt1.4 billion today.

National Counter Corruption Commission commissioner Wicha Mahakhun, who chairs the subcommittee investigating corruption allegations in the Klong Dan wastewater treatment project, said the committee will this week incriminate politicians and state officials as suspects for conspiring to issue a land title deed to sell to the Pollution Control Department.

The Nation
Mon, January 15, 2007