Samak's lawyers see red over BMA fire truck case

POLITICS / SENATE SELECTION, CORRUPTION INQUIRY, COALITION PLANS

Samak's lawyers see red over BMA fire truck case

Lawyers representing Samak Sundaravej in the case involving the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's (BMA) fire truck and boats procurement deal fear the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC) will not summon witnesses for Mr Samak. Pichit Chuenban, who leads Mr Samak's team of lawyers, said this could deprive Mr Samak of the opportunity to defend himself in court.

Mr Pichit was speaking after a meeting with the ASC's sub-committee working on the investigation of the fire truck case.

The sub-panel asked the lawyers to tell it about the details of the issues to be discussed with their witnesses.

But the team of lawyers disagreed with the sub-panel, fearing that if the sub-panel was aware of the issues, it may not summon some of the 20 witnesses for Mr Samak.

Mr Pichit wants the ASC to summon the witnesses to testify first.

He said if the witnesses were not summoned to testify, he will take the issue to court for a decision.

Nam Yimyaem, who heads the sub-panel, said 20 witnesses had already been questioned by the ASC.

If they provided old information in their testimonies, their testimonies would not be included in the investigation, Mr Nam said, adding that the committee will try to close the case by February.

Mr Nam pointed out that an Austrian diplomat who Mr Samak named as his witness had failed to testify to the sub-panel, therefore the sub-panel would no longer treat him as a witness in the case.

He added that if Mr Samak becomes prime minister, this will not have any effect on the work of the ASC.

The sub-committee was appointed after the old team led by Prasert Boonsri refused to investigate the procurement and resigned en masse in September.

The Prasert team accused five people, including the former Bangkok governor, former interior minister Pokin Polakul and former deputy interior minister Pracha Maleenont of malfeasance for their role in initiating and signing the contract with Steyr Co in 2003.

The ASC said the five were involved in pre-determining the Austrian firm as the BMA's contractor, and the specifications of 315 fire trucks and 30 fire-fighting boats.

Such actions resulted in the BMA buying the items at a much higher price, causing more than 1.9 billion baht in damage to the state.

The sub-committee, however, let Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin, former commerce minister Watana Muangsuk and former city clerk Nathanon Thavisin off the hook.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat denied allegations by the ASC that it has dragged its feet in translating English documents for the agency. He said that the ministry has tried its best to assist the ASC.

He said the ministry has translated 834 pages of documents and the new batch of papers it received would be finished on time, by the Jan 15 deadline, as demanded by the ASC.