Posted: March 5, 2007, 8:58 pm Post subject: new government, new corruption
Here we go again !!!!!!
Quote:
March 5, 2007 : Last updated 05:44 pm (Thai local time)
The Nation
Home > Breakingnews > Saprang accused of squandering Bt7.2 million in foreign trip
Saprang accused of squandering Bt7.2 million in foreign trip
General Saprang Kalayanamitr, assistant secretary general of the Council for National Security(CNS) and chairman of Airports of Thailand (AOT), Monday came under attack for squandering Bt7.2 million on a weeklong trip to England and Germany last week.
Saprang returned to Bangkok yesterday and refused to talk to reporters.
Thai Rak Thai Party executive Chamlong Krutkhuntode alleged Saprang had disbursed unrealistic expenses and voiced suspicion on inflated costs to have paid for accompanying family members not on the official list of the AOT delegation.
On Tuesday, Saprang led the 13member delegation to study safety and security measures at major airports in Europe.
"Work was just a pretext for the overseas trip because so many delegates and accompanying members share the same family name," Chamlong said.
Tue, March 6, 2007 : Last updated 11:51 am (Thai local time)
The Nation
Home > Politics > Saprang flayed for costly overseas trip
Saprang flayed for costly overseas trip
General Saprang Kalayanamitr, assistant secretary general of the Council for National Security(CNS) and chairman of Airports of Thailand (AOT), came under attack yesterday for "squandering" Bt7.2 million on a week-long trip to England and Germany last week.
Saprang returned to Bangkok yesterday and refused to talk to reporters.
Thai Rak Thai Party executive Chamlong Krutkhuntode alleged Saprang had disbursed "unrealistic expenses" and voiced suspicion on inflated costs that paid for accompanying family members not on the official list of the AOT delegation.
On Tuesday, Saprang led a 13-member delegation to study safety and security measures at major airports in Europe.
"Work was just a pretext for the overseas trip because so many delegates and accompanying members share the same family name," Chamlong said.
On top of going to England and Germany, one of the delegates, Chirmsak Pinthong, got an expenses-paid side-trip to Denmark and Norway where his wife is the Thai ambassador, he said.
Chamlong said the expenses would not have been so high if the trip was strictly for business.
According to the AOT statement, expenses included Bt5.5 million for travelling costs, Bt1.2 million for entertainment and Bt500,000 as a "commission fee" for a travel agent.
Accompanying Saprang on the trip were AOT board members and
officials including Chirmsak, Air Chief Marshal Narongsak Sangkhapong, Air Marshal Itthiporn Suphawong, Nonthapol Nimsomboon, Totrakul Yomnak and Group Captain Salisa Nimsomboon.
The other delegates were Colonel Thanyaphrom Asawachinda, Colonel Pisit Charoensirapat, Police Major Ukrit Kalayanamitr, Komkrit Wongsomboon and Ranop Suphawong.
I hope that he (as Airports of Thailand Chairman) learned a lot from this 7 million bath trip with his wife and friends to Europe so that he can quickly fill up the holes in the airport in Thailand so that all the problems there will be over soon.
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Saprang: B7 mln trip was business
(BangkokPost.com) - Council for National Security deputy secretary-general Saprang Kalayanamitr, as Airports of Thailand chairman, said his recent trip abroad was for the national security affairs of the country, not for squandering national budget as alleged by the Thai Rak Thai party.
Thai Rak Thai party, founded by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Monday accused Gen Saprang and AoT executives of "squandering" about a million baht a day on the trip.
According to TRT deputy leader Chamlong Krutkhunthod, 13 AoT executives including Gen Saprang spent 7.2 million baht during their trips to the United Kingdom and Germany from Feb 27 until today. Mr Chamlong said Gen Saprang and other board members brought their wives on the trip while AoT board member Chirmsak Pinthong used this as a free trip to visit his wife in Norway.
Gen Saprang said the board went to see security measures at international airports in order to develop the Suvarnabhumi airport. The trip was for the sake of the nation, he said.
He added that he did not have to explain detail of the trip to the CNS members because CNS chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was the person who approved the trip.
Gen Saprang also said he was confident that he made everything right so he was not going to worry about the accusation.
and again more new corruption and pocket filling by army people
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'Cash for cabinet seat' scandal widens
Wassayos Ngamkham and Wassana Nanuam
An army colonel and his accomplice were arrested on Thursday after they were caught accepting a 1.5 million baht deposit for the alleged deal at a restaurant opposite the Army Club in Bangkok. Police believe more people were involved.
The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) is searching for suspected accomplices of two alleged scam artists accused of trying to con a publisher into paying 40 million baht in exchange for a cabinet position.
Video footage of Panatthana Tamprateep, editor and owner of the Kha Pandin Siam newspaper, handing over the money to the suspects, recorded by undercover officers, will be used as key evidence in the case against the gang, said CSD Commander Pol Maj-Gen Worasak Noppasitthiporn.
He said his investigation team believed the scam to convince people that they could secure a cabinet seat in exchange for cash involved more accomplices than just the two suspects already arrested.
The arrests came after Mr Panatthana informed crime suppression police last Friday that Col Nattaporn Chaithongkham and Attapan Maneechote-wichanat had approached him with the offer.
He said the men claimed to be close aides of Council for National Security (CNS) secretary-general Winai Phattiyakul, who said they were trusted headhunters with a mission to find suitable people to join the cabinet.
Mr Panatthana said the colonel, attached to the Supreme Command Headquarters, told him he could secure a seat on the cabinet if he provided the financial backing of 40 million baht.
Gen Somjet Bunthanom, budget office director of the Defence Ministry and chief of the CNS secretariat, said the CNS had heard about the scam earlier and had alerted police about it. Gen Somjet was not certain, however, if the suspects arrested on Thursday were part of the same group as those the CNS had been tipped off about.
Gen Somjet said the Defence Ministry would not offer any assistance to the arrested suspects even though one of them was a military man.
Ok, I don't know what PERC is and surveys can be manipulated,
but again we see that Thailand is the next to worst corruption plagued Asian country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only the Philippines is more corrupt!!!!!
Why are countries like Laos and Cambodia not in the survey???
This survey seems to confirm what we were saying before in this topic.
Quote:
March 13, 2007 : Last updated 01:20 pm (Thai local time)
Home > Breakingnews > Thailand ranks next to worst corruption-plagued Asian economies
Thailand ranks next to worst corruption-plagued Asian economies
SINGAPORE - Here is a table of the corruption scores of 13 Asian economies, as seen in a survey of businessmen by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) and released Tuesday.
On a scale of zero to ten, zero is the best possible score.
In brackets are the scores last year.
1: Singapore, 1.20 (1.30)
2: Hong Kong, 1.87 (3.13)
3: Japan, 2.10 (3.01)
4: Macau, 5.11 (4.7
5: Taiwan, 6.23 (5.91)
6: Malaysia, 6.25 (6.13)
7: China, 6.29 (7.5
8: South Korea, 6.3 (5.44)
9: India, 6.67 (6.76)
10: Vietnam 7.54 (7.91)
11=: Indonesia, 8.03 (8.16), Thailand, 8.03 (7.64)
Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 461 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Posted: March 13, 2007, 7:45 pm Post subject: PERC study
I'd say that Laos, Cambodia, and Burma aren't on the list because perhaps the list encompasses countries with a marginal "rule of law" in the way they do business. Lao, Cambodia, and Burma don't have enough international business, nor outside penetration to even do a PERC study...
Wed, April 4, 2007 : Last updated 13:20 pm (Thai local time)
Pay rise for officials in CNS
About 120 military officers working for the Council for National Security got a controversial pay rise yesterday.
The Cabinet approved the hike requested by the Council for National Security chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin in March, according to assistant government spokesman Natthawat Suthiyodhin.
Sonthi had asked for a 30-per-cent rise for 423 military and security officials. Earlier approval was granted for 60 and an additional 60 got a fatter cheque yesterday.
"These people have carried out their responsibilities with honesty, tolerance and dedication on weekdays and weekends for national security," Natthawat said.
The military units the 120 were attached to would pay the rise. If the sum could not be met it would be "sought from the Budget Bureau".
He could not provide a total cash figure, saying it had not been determined which 120 would get the rise.
Asked why the CNS had not paid the men out of its own Bt555 million budget Natthawat said approval had not been sought for money but for permission to increase the number entitled to "special rewards".
Among the original 423 for whom the extra pay was sought are eight CNS members, 60 officials working for it and 335 staff of the CNS special operations centre.
Cabinet approval was awarded in the absence of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who is still in Japan.
Natthawat and another assistant government spokesman Netpreeya Chumchaiyo were bombarded with questions about the rises. They did not respond to why the officers deserved extra money for staging a coup. When asked why soldiers in the South did not receive more remuneration, the spokespeople replied they had.
The CNS argued earlier personnel deserved more money because they worked hard without a break or public holidays since the coup.
Natthawat insisted the increase was not approved to "please the junta". "Normally, anyone who works harder receives a higher salary," he said.
It seems that some journalists from the Nation reacted too quickly!!!!
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Wed, April 4, 2007 : Last updated 18:01 pm (Thai local time)
Junta defends pay rise
The junta Wednesday defended themselves from a controversial pay rise saying that that the budget is allocated from the budget of the CNS.
Council for National Security spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd held a press conference Wednesday, explaining that only 128 out of 423 received the double rate hike. The total amount of the hike is only Bt 268,950 of total junta budget Bt1.2 billion.
He explained that some of military officials have been transferred from their former units to the Secretariat of the junta office, therefore, they were awarded the pay hike, totaling between 15 to 30 per cent of their old salaries.
The CNS chairman Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin yesterday said eight CNS members including himself were excluded from the pay raise.
"None of us gets extra pay," he said.
Sansern also compared the total of budget which spends to the coup makers about Bt1.2 billion with the tax evasion of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra kids - Panthongtae and Pinthongta.
"The CNS budget is only one tenth of the tax evasion of Thaksin children. The rise is benefit for the country but the corruption money in the last government is for themselves, so the people must consider carefully," said the junta spokesman.
The extra hire has been approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday which requested by the Council for National Security chief in March.
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Virginia, USA
Posted: April 5, 2007, 3:23 am Post subject:
The State (government and government-connected special interest groups) is always corrupt. You can only reduce its corrupt practices by reducing its power and control. The best way of doing this is to reduce its access to money and to minimize regulating laws. Cut taxes.
This editor puts it all together!!!
I think that he is angry and he thinks many Thai people are getting angry
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Thu, April 5, 2007 : Last updated 11:18 am (Thai local time)
Junta at risk of a backlash over lucrative benefits
How long the public will stand for new govt dipping into the trough remains to be seen
The latest controversial pay rise given to 120 officers working for the military junta is not the first, and likely will not be the last, self-rewarding act of the Council for National Security (CNS).
On Tuesday, the junta-appointed Cabinet approved an additional 15-per-cent pay hike, in addition to the 15 per cent granted earlier, as a "special reward" for their "honesty, tolerance and dedication on weekdays and weekends".
People may recall that the junta, who staged last year's September 19 coup to oust the corrupt Thaksin Shinawatra regime, later appropriated some Bt1.2 billion of taxpayers' money for expenditures related to the planning and execution of the unconstitutional coup.
Soon after, the junta appointed a number of friends and allies to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA). The NLA members also received fairly fat paycheques by Thai standards, and the assembly approved a bill increasing the defence budget by 34.97 per cent, or an increase of some Bt20 billion, boosting the annual defence budget to Bt115 billion.
As a reward, a number of CNS members and generals close to the junta were also appointed on various boards of state enterprises and semi-government corporations.
There was also the allegedly lavish and controversial Bt7-million study trip to Europe led by General Saprang Kalayanamitr, one of the key men within the junta, who also sits on the board of Airports of Thailand (AOT). General Saprang declared himself a national "hero", in order to evade probing questions from the media on whether the amount spent was justifiable. Members of the entourage included a person who shared the same family name as General Saprang's.
The self-rewarding spree continues and has even crept into the 35-person Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), the members of which are directly or indirectly appointed by the junta itself.
Last week, the charter drafters moved to ensure future governments would be duty-bound not only to provide adequate arms and military equipment to the armed forces, but also to be "modern" and up to date in terms of "technology". These words were added with no debate. How much this will cost taxpayers in the future is not yet known, but the current annual defence budget is already some 7.34 per cent of the national budget.
Yet many on the very same CDC, citing "lack of money", continue to stall a move that would guarantee the state would provide a minimum of 12 years of education under the new charter. (The old 1997 Constitution offered such a minimum guarantee, so that is nothing new.)
The charter drafters have not made any attempt so far, and are unlikely to do so in the future, to question things like "secret military fund" or how it can be made more accountable, not to mention transparent, under the new constitution.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, meanwhile, insists it cannot afford to buy a new fleet of environmentally friendly buses, saying Bangkok's taxpayers will have to stick with the old ones that emit more CO2 than the city needs.
Here are a few questions that the junta ought to answer frankly:
What do you think of Thai citizens and taxpayers who are being made to pay more and more into your coffers?
What say does the public have in all of these self-rewarding acts of yours?
Can we, the public, get some mileage out of it?
How long, or rather how much longer, do you think Thai citizens should (or will) put up with it?
The junta may feel the public owes them for its help in getting rid of the Thaksin Shinawatra regime and restoring "democracy".
The kind of precedent that such apparent self-rewarding and self-serving behaviour will set, or rather reinforce - considering that past coup leaders almost always ended up becoming corrupted by the very power they usurped - should not be too hard to guess.
And the public should not be too surprised if all of these actions set a precedent of lucrative incentives for future coup-stagers.
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