Graft suspected in Buri Ram solar cell project

[Lite Beer]

Graft suspected in Buri Ram solar cell project
The Sunday Nation

BURI RAM: -- The authorities in the Northeast province of Buri Ram plan to punish those who are found to have taken kick-backs in relation to overpriced solar cells in Nong Ki and Non Suwan districts.

Buri Ram local administrator Songwut Chanphongsri said yesterday the move followed a previous inspection by Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) chief Prayong Preeyajit and his team over procurements in the two districts as well as Nang Rong district.

While Nang Rong procurement bodies bought 17 solar cell sets for Bt716,000 in total, the other two districts bought the same number of cells for Bt1.938 million, raising corruption concerns.

Songwut said the PACC would proceed with criminal punishments while his office, under the supervision of provincial governor, would launch probes to determine if the local bodies' leaders were involved in corruption and all wrongdoers would be punished. The province's six districts operate under power generated by solar cells.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Graft-suspected-in-Buri-Ram-solar-cell-project-30242706.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-07

[EricBerg]

Nah. the high price was just bad negotiating. Will do better next time. Case closed.

[borisloosebrain]

Incurable

[NongKhaiKid]

Let's hope if corruption is proved it's taken to a proper conclusion and not a case of " Somchai lift the carpet, there's some brushing required ".

[chainarong]

Corruption is rife right across the spectrum in Thailand, unless those that are effected come forward there is very little the Government do, outside of increasing law penalties and vigilance in their area, of course Thailand is also riddle with people disappearing or waking up dead , tough call.

[bangkokheat]

corruption must be like a cancer in thailand, question is can it be cured or is it terminal

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies deleted.

[trogers]

corruption must be like a cancer in thailand, question is can it be cured or is it terminal

Terminal! Election is determined by vote buying and selling, which is an act of corruption. The very foundation has been built on filth.

[tingtong]

corruption must be like a cancer in thailand, question is can it be cured or is it terminal

Terminal! Election is determined by vote buying and selling, which is an act of corruption. The very foundation has been built on filth.

Some of our beautiful Western countries spend probably 100s of millions baht for election campaigns.

Thais just found that "direct marketing" works better for them....ppl are firm believer that better 1 bird in the hand than 2 in the bush.

Honestly, cant blame them for it!

[Lupatria]

Solar panels designed by Armani, gold plated by Tiffany and sold by Donald Trump through Lehman Brothers Holding rectify the price.

[belg]

fingers in the cookie jar ....

good luck mister PM to get rid of it

as for now ... thailand is really a hub ... or corruption

too bad the list of assests is just a paper dragon for governement officials ... how many soldiers does it take to check all of those wealthy living officials with a meager governement salary, living the hi-so live

[recycled]

fingers in the cookie jar ....

good luck mister PM to get rid of it

as for now ... thailand is really a hub ... or corruption

too bad the list of assests is just a paper dragon for governement officials ... how many soldiers does it take to check all of those wealthy living officials with a meager governement salary, living the hi-so live

Apparently they are too busy with cleaning beaches to tackle the minor issues, but how dare we question the Man.

[nisakiman]

fingers in the cookie jar ....

good luck mister PM to get rid of it

as for now ... thailand is really a hub ... or corruption

too bad the list of assests is just a paper dragon for governement officials ... how many soldiers does it take to check all of those wealthy living officials with a meager governement salary, living the hi-so live

Don't for one moment think that Thailand is alone in being corrupt. The western countries are equally corrupt; they've just become a lot more subtle about it.

Did you know that the accounts for the EU haven't been signed off for at least 17 years because the auditors can't account for billions of Euros that seem to have been mislaid somewhere? And I mean BILLIONS. (Edit to add that it's every year that huge amounts of money get 'lost').

And do you really think that in the corridors of power in the west there isn't any "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" horse trading going on between politicians and industry?

And as for vote buying, politicians do it all the time in the west - they make promises which they never keep to buy people's votes. As tingtong points out above, the Thai politicians (all of them, not just the Shins) take a more direct approach, which is probably a lot cheaper in the long run.

Thailand may well be more openly corrupt in the lower levels (tea money for the cops etc) because the western powers have hit all the soft targets so they can say "look how honest and transparent we are", but in the higher echelons of politics and industry, it's business as usual. They just make the process so convoluted and opaque that nobody notices it happening.

Edited September 7, 2014 by nisakiman

[BestBitterPhuket]

I hope the wrongdoers will have to pay back everything they stole, lose their jobs and go to jail. If they only gets "transferred" to a new job, I will cry...for Thailand.

[callaway]

Its the Armys fault. Those have closed the feed trough in so many other areas that the pickings are slim now. So any project is fair game and has all the little piggies lined up at the trough waiting to get a bit of a feed