Finance Ministry sent evidence of THAI mismanagement, corruption

[Oldie]

It is a sad story. Thai Airways was once one of the best airlines in the world. I liked to fly with them. I also flew directly Bangkok to New York and back with them. An unforgettable experience since we flew over the North Pole. Interesting to look down. Sadly this flight doesn't exist anymore since it was too expensive for them. 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

 

I'm not saying "maintenance workers" are blameless but targeting them is a distraction from highlighting more major wrongdoing by the bigger players in the shambles of the company that is (was) Thai Airways.

 

I doubt very much that the "maintenance workers" were receiving the extra payments...the person waving the pen was

[AhFarangJa]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Finance Ministry sent evidence of THAI mismanagement, corruption

Here it is on the way to the hearings...................

[steven100]

fire sale .... then move on.  Let NOK and Bangkok airways have Thailand.

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

A Transport Ministry panel on corruption filed 18 documents of evidence against Thai Airways International (THAI) with the Finance Ministry on Tuesday, pending an investigation into mismanagement of the debt-ridden airline

It was a state owned enterprise who would expect anything above board?

[klauskunkel]

this answered my question in todays's Red Bull topic:

Quote

"corruption and conspiracy by investigators"

I idly wonder if this tarnished Thailand's image at all... 

it didn't tarnish the image, it confirmed it.

[JusticeGB]

As far as I am aware the bribes paid to secure the Rolls Royce engines for Thai Air, with people who have already served jail sentences in the UK, the people in Thai Air who were the recipients of the bribes over 10 years ago haven't been charged yet due to "lack of evidence". The same will probably happen now it will be sent to a committee and then be forgotten. 

[Fex Bluse]

The almost universal Thai corruption will not change. The government will go after 1 or 2 token people that are in an opposing political clan. They will never go after their own clan. The whole of Thai society is a farce. Thin veneer of modernity painted over a feudal, totally underdeveloped society. 

[Scott Tracy]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

More evidence of graft was found in the maintenance department, where the hourly overtime rate of Bt1,500 was inflated to Bt2,000-Bt3,000 for 200 to 300 workers, resulting in losses totalling Bt2 billion a year.

Blimey. I know it was some time ago, (2001) but the independent aircraft maintenance company I worked for charged $32 per hour worked on aircraft.

 

Bt1500 per hour for overtime....even at time and a half is Bt1000 per hour normal time. For a 40 hour week, 40,000 baht. A year....2 million a year. I thought wages were low in the land of smiles. I was on not much more than that as a senior QA engineer in the UK when I retired after 40 plus years in the industry.

[Peabody]

14 minutes ago, Scott Tracy said:

Blimey. I know it was some time ago, (2001) but the independent aircraft maintenance company I worked for charged $32 per hour worked on aircraft.

 

Bt1500 per hour for overtime....even at time and a half is Bt1000 per hour normal time. For a 40 hour week, 40,000 baht. A year....2 million a year. I thought wages were low in the land of smiles. I was on not much more than that as a senior QA engineer in the UK when I retired after 40 plus years in the industry.

I would guess that is the DAILY pay, not the hourly rate.

[DirtyHarry55]

Quote

The panel also seized on the disastrous decision to buy 10 Airbus 340s for about Bt100 billion from 2004.

2004 That's like 16 years ago are they gonna blame Thaksin?
Anyway normal Airlines usually profit more after buying new Planes.
What about the Rolls Royce Corruption Scandal?
I guess they will have to cover most of the corruption up involving important people just blame it all on the workers.

[Bender Rodriguez]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

As a state agency, THAI racked up about Bt250 billion in debts before asking for court-supervised restructuring earlier this year.

wow and still nobody will go to jail over this

[ChipButty]

8 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

wow and still nobody will go to jail over this

Have to build some 5 star jails 

[86Tiger]

When you are the number one destination in the world and the money is rolling in little things like this are easy to go away.

 

Let one little pandemic take hold, the money stops and suddenly every one realizes there is a boo boo........ 

[Peterphuket]

Thai, it is one big joke.

I'm sure I'm not the only one but yesterday they (Thai) offering me vouchers in stead of my money back from refusing me in March my flight back from HKG to BKK

Of course I refuse.

Today I got the mesaage because I want my money back: "time is estimated to take at least one year or more",  in march they talking about 3 months, today at least 1 year more.

I think they waiting until I die.

Funny company, but for me no Thai anymore.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Peterphuket

[joecoolfrog]

10 hours ago, Bassosa said:

This is hopeful. Maybe they'll make an example out of Thai airways and really go after a few key persons.

Yep , that will happen shortly after the turkeys vote for Xmas !

[Misterwhisper]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

the hourly overtime rate of Bt1,500 was inflated to Bt2,000-Bt3,000 for 200 to 300 workers

$50 overtime compensation PER HOUR???

Inflated to to $75 - $100 PER HOUR????

 

Which "workers" - even highly qualified ones - in Thailand make $50 overtime an hour?

I think even that rate already was inflated and somebody else pocketed at least half of it. Then they got greedy and inflated it even more.

 

It appears there never has been any independent audit at that airline as would be standard practice elsewhere? Otherwise it'd be hard to explain why these payment irregularities remained undiscovered for god knows how many years.

[realfunster]

3 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

It appears there never has been any independent audit at that airline as would be standard practice elsewhere? Otherwise it'd be hard to explain why these payment irregularities remained undiscovered for god knows how many years.

 

I think they were audited by the State Audit Office, fat load of use they were.

The funniest thing I read elsewhere was that individuals were claiming >1,500 hours of OT each, that's like literally working 20 hours a day, every day of the year.

 

Those that have been here for a while will not be at all shocked by these developments but it is truly a national disgrace.

 

We can only hope that this rehabilitation case becomes so big, so public and so embarrassing that it might just jolt enough for serious changes to be made.

[joecoolfrog]

With all those crooked agents and maintenance staff , thank goodness the senior management were honest and efficient !!!

[rebo]

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

First the "Boss" debacle now the "Thai" debacle, I'm almost ready to think corruption is endemic in the whole of Thai society! ????  

Why “almost“?

[PatOngo]

51 minutes ago, rebo said:

Why “almost“?

I'm being diplomatic! ????

[kiwikeith]

9 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Must be some big fat off shore banks accounts somewhere, follow the money

10 Billion out of 12 B debt, is what executives ripped.

Not bad, but hard to follow the money as 2 many fingers jammed in the till.

They will never appoint a foreign receiver to sort this out, however I think a Brit runs Emirates and other top airlines are CEO'd by Brits.

LOS will never do this , never get top finance management from abroad, if they did and if the management had a free run there would be no Thais in executive rolls in Thai Airways.

Maybe Somkids next job, he would be the best, trouble is he has already gone from govt after first being asked to sort finance for this MOB, he worked for Thaksin b4 so he must have been a smart guy. 

[Fex Bluse]

THAI survived despite the Thais. And foreign tourism is the only thing that kept it alive. If the tourists don't come back very soon, you will see a series of violent deaths related to this corruption allegation. It's almost guaranteed. Get the popcorn 

 

[Redline]

I'm sure that is about 2 percent of the mismanagement and corruption.  It should be audited from the day it was formed, and build another prison for the culprits

[ThailandRyan]

44 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

THAI survived despite the Thais. And foreign tourism is the only thing that kept it alive. If the tourists don't come back very soon, you will see a series of violent deaths related to this corruption allegation. It's almost guaranteed. Get the popcorn 

 

No I don't believe you at all.  The disappearing will begin, and they will never be found again except in exile or never be heard from again.

[Misterwhisper]

3 hours ago, realfunster said:

 

I think they were audited by the State Audit Office, fat load of use they were.

The funniest thing I read elsewhere was that individuals were claiming >1,500 hours of OT each, that's like literally working 20 hours a day, every day of the year.

 

Those that have been here for a while will not be at all shocked by these developments but it is truly a national disgrace.

 

We can only hope that this rehabilitation case becomes so big, so public and so embarrassing that it might just jolt enough for serious changes to be made.

Wow! I didn't know that. And the State Audit office wasn't blinking an eye when they claimed 1,500+ hours of OT at a grossly inflated rate? Well, they probably got their cut in exchange for letting it sail through.

 

This country really is hopeless.

[mikebell]

On 9/2/2020 at 3:55 AM, Bassosa said:

This is hopeful. Maybe they'll make an example out of Thai airways and really go after a few key persons.

It's nice to be an optimist.  This is Thailand the hub of noise and inaction.  There will be committees formed full of self-important people who will blather & eat free lunches, but it is all mere 'sound and fury, signifying nothing' - Macbeth.

[hotandsticky]

3 minutes ago, mikebell said:

It's nice to be an optimist.  This is Thailand the hub of noise and inaction.  There will be committees formed full of self-important people who will blather & eat free lunches, but it is all mere 'sound and fury, signifying nothing' - Macbeth.

 

 

You make it sound like the European Commission...