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26 People linked to Rolls Royce-THAI Bribery Scandal
14th Mar 2017
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) should this week start questioning 26 individuals, including two ministers from the Thaksin Shinawatra administration regarding their possible connection with the 2004-05 Rolls Royce-THAI bribery scandal.
One of the 26 persons of interest is former deputy transport minister Vichet Kasemthongsri, who has denied his involvement in this scandal, saying he was at the time, not assigned to supervise the government-controlled Thai Airways International.
NACC Secretary-general Sansern Poljiak, however, said that the anti-graft agency found evidence pointing to Mr. Vichet’s involvement in the bribery scandal, and as a result, he must appear for questioning about it. He said that, while Vichet may not have been involved in supervising the government-backed airline at the time he was in office, he was still involved in the airline’s procurement process and responsible as a result of that.
The NACC is investigating orders for one Airbus A340-500/600 and six Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, all equipped with Rolls Royce engines that the airline placed order on in 2004-05. Together with two other orders, the UK company paid a total of 1.2 billion baht in bribes to the Thai government and airline officials, the Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom found out in its investigation.
The other two alleged bribes happened from 1991 and 1992 and between 1992 and 1997. However, the NACC will not be able to persecute wrongdoers in these two cases, as they are basically protected by the fact that the statute of limitations had expired on these cases.
Apart from Mr. Vichet, among the 26 people that the NACC will summon to explain their roles in the scandal, two other former ministers and several former executives in the Thai Airways International, including the former president, chairman and a number of ex directors and senior execs will also have to appear before the NACC subcommittee.
One of the commissioners (there are three of them) investigating the case, Staporn Lao-thong said that NACC must process it based on the witness testimony and documents they find and will complete the investigation as soon as possible.
At the time when this happened, Suriya Juengrung-ruangkit was the transport minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra administration and she held that position between 2002 and 2005.
THAI has also announced an inquiry of its own into the case.
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