The GT200 debacle: gullibility or criminality? [Editorial]

[webfact]

The GT200 debacle: gullibility or criminality?

By The Nation

 

 

Thailand wasn’t the only country that bought the dowsing rod sold as a bomb detector, but it bought the most and defended it the longest

 

A Bangkok court has convicted Thai firm Ava Satcom Co and its top executive of fraud for supplying GT200 devices to the Royal Aide-de-Camp Department.

 

The company chief was jailed for nine years and fined Bt18,000, but an appeal is planned on the grounds that the GT200s were imported on the orders of the military.

 

The handheld British-manufactured gadgets, which were supposed to detect all sorts of contraband, from bombs to drugs, were sold to various security units. They did no such thing, although senior figures in the military were 

prepared to swear to their efficacy.

 

The manufacturers were convicted of fraud in 2013 after the British government, considering purchasing the devices for its troops, had the instruments scrutinised.

 

Thailand was among several countries whose governments were duped into investing heavily in the GT200, chiefly to thwart insurgency bombings in the South.

 

Even when the gadget was shown to be nothing more that meaningless wires and an antenna attached to a plastic casing, the Thai Army defended the procurement. By insisting the GT200 was effective, it was putting people’s lives in danger, along with its own global reputation.

 

The denials went on until the controversy faded away, at which point the military quietly scrubbed the device from its inventory supply list.

 

And now, with the conviction of Ava Satcom, Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-General Kongcheep Tantravanich has announced that the military is mulling a lawsuit of its own and might seek compensation.

 

Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, the Defence Minister, continues to maintain that the armed forces did nothing wrong and he dismissed any suggestion of a scandal. “At the time [2004], our testing teams said the devices worked,” Prawit told reporters.

 

They apparently seemed to work like magic, because various state agencies were ready to pay between Bt900,000 and Bt1.2 million per unit, spending as much as Bt900 million in all.

 

The Army bought 757, the Royal Thai Police 50, the Central Institute of Forensic Science and Customs Department six each and the Air Force four.

 

They could have instead bought a device that’s designed to find golf balls lost in the rough, because that’s what the GT200 was based on, and those only cost about Bt600 each. They don’t sniff out bombs or prevent limbs from being blown off, but they’d come in handy on the Army golf links.

 

After all these years of defending the procurement, it is a far too late now for Prawit to try and cast the armed forces as the victim in this matter.

 

Nor would a public apology suffice, should he ever deign to offer one. Heads ought to roll and the Attorney General should consider a criminal suit against whoever authorised the purchase.

 

Such sloppiness on the military’s part cannot be allowed to pass without punishment. The debacle also throws further doubt on other, much more expensive procurements like tanks, submarines and jet fighters.

 

Can we trust the generals when it comes to due diligence?

 

There of course needs to be a degree of secrecy in the purchase and sale of military hardware. National security cannot be compromised.

 

But there also needs to be accountability in the event that the sale or purchase ends badly. This is why more-developed countries make civilian oversight of the military a matter of law. Unfortunately for Thailand, the military is always enmeshed in politics, and at the moment inextricably so. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/today_editorial/30355765

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-04

[bluesofa]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

The handheld British-manufactured gadgets, which were supposed to detect all sorts of contraband, from bombs to drugs, were sold to various security units. They did no such thing, although senior figures in the military were prepared to swear to their efficacy.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the PM in charge of this project a few years ago?

When it was "realised" the GT200 was actually a novelty golf ball finder, didn't he say that if it made the officer using it happy, that was good enough?

 

[Samui Bodoh]

"...The GT200 debacle:gullibility or criminality?..."

 

How about...

 

stupidity and face?

 

[JAG]

Criminal gullibility?

[Hayduke]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The GT200 debacle: gullibility or criminality?

 

The military does not buy so much as a pencil where exhaustive study is not performed.

 

The product is exhaustively studied, not for functionality or utility, but for the amount of 'commission' that can be squeezed out of the deal. The officials who approved this acquisition knew full well it was bogus but the kickbacks proved irresistible.

 

The only gullibility here is on the part of people who trust the military to have some measurable degree of integrity.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Hayduke

[bluesofa]

Just now, Hayduke said:

{snipped}

The only gullibility here is on the part of the people who trust the military to have some measurable degree of integrity.

Trust the military - today's oxymoron.

 

[smutcakes]

Should of, would of, should do, would do to the military blah blah blah.

 

No one will do anything as they are completely untouchable. They will continue to take the piss out of the Thai public for as long as the public are prepared to take it, and believe all their nonsense propaganda about protecting the country.... yawn.. sickening bunch of crooks.

 

Not sure whats worse, those in the military or the Thai public's apathy to their ways.

Edited October 4, 2018 by smutcakes

[seajae]

after this debacle everyone is right to wonder how bad the buys done by the same people are, especially the subs from the chinese. Are these subs crap that china simply wants to be rid of or do they actually work ok, very big question and of course how much were the thais that did the deal rewarded by the chinese, as always in Thailand the purchasers are usually well paid for the orders especially when they are just junk, happens under every govt too

[asiaexpat]

One look at these devices and it is clear they are fake. The testing team and procurement supervisors had a particular agenda in mind regardless what country bought these devices and it was not detection of substances. 

[klauskunkel]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Can we trust the generals when it comes to due diligence?

Of course you can, they invented "due diligence".

[Cadbury]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, the Defence Minister, continues to maintain that the armed forces did nothing wrong and he dismissed any suggestion of a scandal.

The Toad is in denial just like he was about Koh Tao. Sounds like some expensive watches might have changed hands when the contract was signed. This corruption scandal is up there with the Sky Dragon blimp which hardly ever got above ground level and eventually crashed. The military is up there with the best of them when it comes to corruption.

The other two countries which purchased this ridiculous bomb detection contraption were Mexico and Iraq both of which, like Thailand, rank highly on the Corruption Index. Circumstantial evidence maybe but it does give a clue.

Edited October 4, 2018 by metisdead
Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes or wording.

[guest879]

people want even more govt control, in fact socialism is being touted in many western countries. people don't seem to care that much about how they spend money when they did not have to earn it themselves.

[metisdead]

A grammar police post has been removed. 

[gamini]

The problem with these posts is that they seem to think that this only happens in Thailand. The military in most countries is thoroughly corrupt including USA. I have first knowledge of this with my experience of dealing with military in several countries. My former business partner bought up a lot of US scrap military equipment in Europe after the war but was not allowed to sell it to Italy or Germany. He went to America and paid out millions of dollars in bribes and got permission to sell it to Fiat in Italy

[Darcula]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

they’d come in handy on the Army golf links

 

I'd wager that a lot of things come in handy on the army golf links.

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Darcula

[PatOngo]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The GT200 debacle: gullibility or criminality?

It could have been worse, imagine if they bought, say, an aircraft carrier or maybe three submarines!

[chainarong]

It seems very remiss and pointed to believe that senior military officials now senior members of Thailand's  Junta government act dumb when it suits, it would also be incredulous if any action where to be instigated against these people, when everyone in the Kingdom of Thailand knows the truth. 

[Srikcir]

Even when the detector proved to be a fake, the military continued to justify its use saying that it was better than nothing. In a way it was treated as a fancy amulet.

[JAG]

4 hours ago, Hayduke said:

 

The military does not buy so much as a pencil where exhaustive study is not performed.

 

The product is exhaustively studied, not for functionality or utility, but for the amount of 'commission' that can be squeezed out of the deal. The officials who approved this acquisition knew full well it was bogus but the kickbacks proved irresistible.

 

The only gullibility here is on the part of people who trust the military to have some measurable degree of integrity.

 

 

I believe the most diligent chap in the RTA Trials and Procurement Department is the bloke with the paper knife who opens the envelopes...