TOT board has at least five seats to fill after resignations

COMMUNICATIONS / STATE ENTERPRISES

TOT board has at least five seats to fill after resignations

KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

The TOT board's most urgent task as it begins 2008 will be to find new members, as five directors have resigned and one rarely attends meetings.

The board, chaired by Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr, has been facing problems for the past few months in approving new projects and other business because of the gradual resignations of several members, said a TOT executive who is also a member of the board.

The state telecom enterprise had its full complement of 14 directors at the start of 2007 but two members, Djit Laowattana and Kitti Teerasek, resigned shortly afterward when Sitthichai Pookaiya-udom, the former Information and Communications Technology minister, stepped down.

Col Narick-atipak Saengsanith resigned to run in the Dec 23 election for the Chart Thai party. Paiboon Nithitawan quit on Dec 21 and Surachai Liangboonletchai stepped down on Dec 31 to run in the March Senate election.

Director Chawalit Sethamaetekul, who is the chairman of Hemaraj Land & Development, has rarely attended TOT board meetings, reducing the number of directors present at board meetings to a mere eight.

The Finance Ministry recently appointed three directors in an attempt to ensure that TOT could approve certain projects prior to the formation of the new government. However, the board will not select a president even though the post has been vacant for five months.

The source said that usually, when a new government takes power, it will reshuffle the boards of state enterprises. If the current TOT board appoints a president, the selection would probably be overturned by its successor, he said.