SRT must reimburse Hopewell: court

By The Nation

 

 

The Supreme Administrative court on Monday ordered the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to reimburse Hopewell Co Ltd Bt12 billion for the termination of the contract following the arbitral award order on 8 November 2008.
 

Under the ruling, SRT has to pay within 180 days of Monday’s court order.

 

File photo

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30368112

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-22

Bangkok Stonehenge, how many years has this been dragging on now, has to be over 20? 

I understood that Hopewell Co Ltd was already a dissolved company. Perhaps someone can update me.  This being the case then surely this award against SRT is meaningless as there is no legal entity in existence to which the  12 billion can be paid.  Or does it just go to somewhere else !!!!!!!!

6 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

I understood that Hopewell Co Ltd was already a dissolved company. Perhaps someone can update me.  This being the case then surely this award against SRT is meaningless as there is no legal entity in existence to which the  12 billion can be paid.  Or does it just go to somewhere else !!!!!!!!

I see you must have experience in the Department of Asking Awkward Questions. It's often a life-threatening occupation if the wrong questions are asked of influential people.

 

23 minutes ago, CGW said:

Bangkok Stonehenge, how many years has this been dragging on now, has to be over 20? 

They were working on it when I first came here back in 1993

Wot no interest on the outstanding amount? 

 

27 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

I understood that Hopewell Co Ltd was already a dissolved company.

I am sure some lawyer will find the paperwork to claim the money.

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

They were working on it when I first came here back in 1993

Well guess what sort of government awarded it at the time ?   Read this and perhaps it will come clear that zero has changed in almost 30 years as to the depths of alleged corruption. Some prominent and "respected" figures at that time are still surviving today if you do a bit of research.

 

Interesting article here;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok_Elevated_Road_and_Train_System

2 minutes ago, Chang_paarp said:

Wot no interest on the outstanding amount? 

 

I am sure some lawyer will find the paperwork to claim the money. 

I bet if the international press got involved in asking questions about where the payment was going to, the story would be shut down here PDQ, as 'a threat to national security'.

It's always useful to have that old chestnut to fall back when there are important people in the hierarchy who need to deflect the truth.

31 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

I understood that Hopewell Co Ltd was already a dissolved company. Perhaps someone can update me.  This being the case then surely this award against SRT is meaningless as there is no legal entity in existence to which the  12 billion can be paid.  Or does it just go to somewhere else !!!!!!!!

Hopewell Holdings Ltd would likely have taken over the legal action and would therefore have funded this case. It has been listed on the HK stock exchange since 1972 and, interestingly, it was taken private in March 2019. A coincidence or.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopewell_Holdings

 

 

 

1 minute ago, dabhand said:

Hopewell Holdings Ltd would likely have taken over the legal action and would therefore have funded this case. It has been listed on the HK stock exchange since 1972 and, interestingly, it was taken private in March 2019. A coincidence or.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopewell_Holdings

 

 

 

Interesting stuff, effectively meaning that the 12 billion could be heading to Hong Kong, China ?   Well I never !!

9 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Well guess what sort of government awarded it at the time ?   Read this and perhaps it will come clear that zero has changed in almost 30 years as to the depths of alleged corruption. Some prominent and "respected" figures at that time are still surviving today if you do a bit of research.

 

Interesting article here;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok_Elevated_Road_and_Train_System

Here is a link of Thai Prime Ministers and their political parties going back to 1932.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Thailand

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

Here is a link of Thai Prime Ministers and their political parties going back to 1932.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Thailand

The PM at the time was mentioned in my link already if you read it.  No need for the list back to 1932 as that is getting off topic.

8 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Interesting stuff, effectively meaning that the 12 billion could be heading to Hong Kong, China ?   Well I never !!

As Hopewell was a HK company where else would it be expected to go?

Hopewell Holding wins final court battle over controversial project

 

 

The Thai Ministry of Transport and the State Railway of Thailand have been dealt a devastating blow as the Supreme Administrative Court today overturned the Administrative Court’s verdict and ordered the two state agencies to pay almost 11.9 billion baht in compensation to Hong Kong-based Hopewell Holdings Company for the termination of the Hopewell project.

 

The compensation, plus another 500 million baht in bank guarantees put up by Hopewell Holdings Company, must be paid within 180 days of the verdict from the Supreme Administrative Court.

 

The Thai court’s verdict will put an end to the long-running legal battle, between the Transport Ministry and the SRT on one side and Hopewell Holdings on the other, over the 60-km elevated highway and rail line from central Bangkok to Don Meuang international airport.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/hopewell-holding-wins-final-court-battle-over-controversial-project/

 

 

 -- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-04-22

Hopewell Holding belongs to Sir Gordon Wu and one of the largest builders of roads, tunnels and bridges. He has tons of money to fight the case and for his name.

I would say that it will probably bankrupt the SRT but they are there already.

 

I Googled SRT debts and came up with this from the Nation back in 2016.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Plan-to-revive-loss-making-SRT-30296163.html

A rightful decision.

SRT  (Thailands  worst run Govt Dept) decided after all contracts signed & work progressing that they wanted another 600 mil USD

for the air rights. Hopewell did a recalculation & decided to walk away.

It did not hurt that they had just inked  their biggest contract ever building a massive highway in China

22 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I would say that it will probably bankrupt the SRT but they are there already.

 

I Googled SRT debts and came up with this from the Nation back in 2016.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Plan-to-revive-loss-making-SRT-30296163.html

SRT and other state owned enterprises will never be bankrupt under the law. I think this kind of law applies to most countries. Tax payers will have to bear the burden.

Bearing in mind that SRT has always pleaded poverty and that it runs at a loss, how will they pay? The answer is they can't, although perhaps if they sold off their derelict land in the centre of Bangkok that is the size of a village..... They might even be able to lay decent tracks with the leftovers.

Hopwell have successfully built major projects in famously corrupt countries like The Philippines, India, and China. Thailand was at a level even Hopwell couldn’t tackle. I remember reading an exasperated Gordon Wu giving an interview on this Thai project more than a decade ago.

...good for him...Sir Gordon Wu....!!!

 

...the bad news is .....you have to be someone of his stature and might to have any hope in hell of any...eventual litigation settlement...even when you are well within your rights...???

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The Supreme Administrative court

I've never seen a country with so many supreme courts.

Administrative Supreme Court, Criminal Supreme Court and Constitutional Court.

And of course currently for civilians tried in military courts, there is no supreme court for appeals.

7 hours ago, CGW said:

Bangkok Stonehenge, how many years has this been dragging on now, has to be over 20? 

 

 

"Bangkok Stonehenge"

 

 

soon to be a world heritage site

1 hour ago, Thakkar said:

Hopwell have successfully built major projects in famously corrupt countries like The Philippines, India, and China. Thailand was at a level even Hopwell couldn’t tackle. I remember reading an exasperated Gordon Wu giving an interview on this Thai project more than a decade ago.

 

hopewell is a hong kong based company thus would imagine the thai courts have a keen interest in not upsetting the china hierarchy 

6 minutes ago, atyclb said:

hopewell is a hong kong based company thus would imagine the thai courts have a keen interest in not upsetting the china hierarchy 

Back when all this started Hopewell was in a British colony, time moves on .............................. so your saying they didn't care about upsetting us Brits?

This was apparently the same project which resulted in HM's B737 getting impounded in Munich some years back until (then government) Abhisit coughed up some of the payment to release the aircraft.  

42 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

Abhisit coughed up some of the payment to release the aircraft.  

What a lovely human being he turned out to be ???? 

13 hours ago, CGW said:

13 hours ago, atyclb said:

hopewell is a hong kong based company thus would imagine the thai courts have a keen interest in not upsetting the china hierarchy 

Back when all this started Hopewell was in a British colony, time moves on .............................. so your saying they didn't care about upsetting us Brits?

 

 

interesting extrapolation that could be true. they didn't care much about a german company either that did much road work associated with don mueang airport area til a certain jet was impounded.

 

do you not think hong kong being under china now did not play a role?

1 hour ago, atyclb said:

do you not think hong kong being under china now did not play a role?

Possibly - but they were just repeating previous verdicts, SRT were obviously in the wrong throughout.