Bangkok City Council appoints probe team to look into 160-million baht mini fire truck deal

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City Council appoints probe team to look into 160-million baht mini fire truck deal



BANGKOK: -- The City Council yesterday agreed to appoint an 11-member committee to investigate the controversial purchase of 20 mini-fire engines at the cost of 160 million baht by the Bangkok governor after the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) found irregularities in the purchase.

The panel was tasked to finish the investigation within 180 days.

Decision of the City Council came after the OAG investigated the controversial purchase of 20 mini fire trucks and found irregularities and corruption regarding the use of power by the Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

The OAG suspected that the mini fire trucks were bought at an overly high price, and the vehicle’s left-hand drive vehicles might breach the Land Transport Law.

In response to the City Council’s appointment of the probe panel, Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand yesterday insisted of transparency in the purchase of the fire trucks saying the project to procure fire trucks was initiated since October 2012 at the time when he had only three months left in office.

As he was uncertain if he would be back in office or not, he had tasked the Fire and Rescue Department of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to study if the project should be pursued or not.

It came out with a conclusion that the procurement of mini fire trucks was appropriate and therefore went ahead to purchase the first lot of 20 trucks for use.

He recalled that the mini fire trucks have been used to combat 269 fires since April, or an average 3-4 fires a day.

He also defended the left-hand drive of these mini-fire trucks reasoning that since the purchase was in small volume, therefore it was in no position to bargain for change or impossible to ask the German manufacturer to alter to right-hand drive in its supply to Thailand.

He said it was not investment worthy to change the assembly line just for small volumes of fire engines.

The governor insisted on his sincerity and cleanliness in purchasing the fire engines for use and vowed he would not step down.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/city-council-appoints-probe-team-look-160-million-baht-mini-fire-truck-deal/


-- Thai PBS 2016-07-14

[Thian]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

[clockman]

Trust me, we are Thai!

[worgeordie]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

Edited July 14, 2016 by worgeordie

[colinneil]

They found corruption love it.

What else did they expect to find?

You have to see this to believe it, corruption in Thailand, is that what is called Thainess

20 all terrain vehicles at 8 million each, hells bells somebody made a good wedge out of that.

[clockman]

With his connections, forget it.

[Winniedapu]

The Bangkok City Council sets up a committee to look into itself.

Good luck with that.

Winnie

[halloween]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

How much water do you think they should carry?

[trainman34014]

They will never get this Guy as he is too well connected to all the other thieves higher up the ladder than him.

[ignis]

ATV with a Thai number plate ??

+ why buy them from Germany, when there friends make lots of them, just search 'Chinese ATV Fire Engines'

[ChrisY1]

The teflon Governor.......

[Holy Cinema]

Send them to all the rural villages, they'd be more use to them, the nearest fire department to our village is over 30 mins drive away, the nearest water pump? good question, not seen any fire fighting material anywhere in or around the village. There might be a little pump hut hidden away though.

[Winniedapu]

They will never get this Guy as he is too well connected to all the other thieves higher up the ladder than him.

Not sure I agree, I think Abhisit will unseat him, Abhisit also has connections to the same and different thieves in the same and different places.

Win

[jamesbrock]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

Considering the Polaris Ranger 6x6 starts at US$12,599 (442,000 baht), I'd concur that 8,000,000 baht a piece does deem slightly excessive...

I can't see how anyone, not even Teflon-Sukhumbhand, could seriously argue that a pump, small water tank and two fire extinguishers could cost 7,558,000 baht! (Indeed the other website says that the extinguishers cost 8,000 baht each, and even this is three times market price!)

So lets say it cost them—at a wildest max guess—2 million a piece; that is 120 million baht in public funds that has been illegally funnelled into some influential individuals' personal slush funds.

Again, the utter shamelessness of this level of corruption astounds me.

[KMartinHandyman]

The base Polaris atv costs less than $20k usd

Finished Thai style cost was $228k usd

[mesterm]

I mean it's good that they are looking into it. But really such a scam shouldn't have happened in the first place.

[Holy Cinema]

They will never get this Guy as he is too well connected to all the other thieves higher up the ladder than him.

Not sure I agree, I think Abhisit will unseat him, Abhisit also has connections to the same and different thieves in the same and different places.

Win

Does Abhisit, who has already asked for this guy to step down, and he refused, have the MR title? if not, Abhisit will sit in the corner and only speak when spoken to.

[MaxLee]

Bla bla bla,.... more puppet theater show for the (International) public, that they are in a so called *process, the Thai way* aka Case Closed

[denkiblue555]

I would of thought 160MB would have been enough for 20 of these (with change)! :

Edited July 14, 2016 by denkiblue555

[cockatoowho]

ATV with a Thai number plate ??

+ why buy them from Germany, when there friends make lots of them, just search 'Chinese ATV Fire Engines'

Can't buy them for 8 million, they are only 1 million each.

[Artisi]

The Bangkok City Council sets up a committee to look into itself.

Good luck with that.

Winnie

A bit like marking your own exam papers or writing your own reference, but TIT.

[masuk]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

Considering the Polaris Ranger 6x6 starts at US$12,599 (442,000 baht), I'd concur that 8,000,000 baht a piece does deem slightly excessive...

I can't see how anyone, not even Teflon-Sukhumbhand, could seriously argue that a pump, small water tank and two fire extinguishers could cost 7,558,000 baht! (Indeed the other website says that the extinguishers cost 8,000 baht each, and even this is three times market price!)

So lets say it cost them—at a wildest max guess—2 million a piece; that is 120 million baht in public funds that has been illegally funnelled into some influential individuals' personal slush funds.

Again, the utter shamelessness of this level of corruption astounds me.

Maybe the red flashing lights were very expensive ?

[waldroj]

Does Thailand have any auditors?

[mike324]

wonder how many toyota trucks you can outfit for the price of one those those polaris fire trucks...it is smaller, but not much smaller than a truck that it would make a difference

I believe someone said in the US, that polaris truck would cost around $50,0000

Amazing how government procurement in Thailand always have a corruption tax added, or should I say luxury tax

[aussieinthailand]

They will never get this Guy as he is too well connected to all the other thieves higher up the ladder than him.

Not sure I agree, I think Abhisit will unseat him, Abhisit also has connections to the same and different thieves in the same and different places.

Win

Shouldn't need mark to shake a big stick but hey who knows maybe he has Suthep as a mate helping him?

More like not enough money going up the chain.

[bheard]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

Considering the Polaris Ranger 6x6 starts at US$12,599 (442,000 baht), I'd concur that 8,000,000 baht a piece does deem slightly excessive...

I can't see how anyone, not even Teflon-Sukhumbhand, could seriously argue that a pump, small water tank and two fire extinguishers could cost 7,558,000 baht! (Indeed the other website says that the extinguishers cost 8,000 baht each, and even this is three times market price!)

So lets say it cost them—at a wildest max guess—2 million a piece; that is 120 million baht in public funds that has been illegally funnelled into some influential individuals' personal slush funds.

Again, the utter shamelessness of this level of corruption astounds me.

Similar to the mark-ups applied to the bogus explosive detectors a few years ago. Impossible to explain where the money went, so the detailed costings were never explained in public. But that's OK. Here in Thailand. Because corruption is the system, without it nothing can happen. All Thai people know that, and accept it more or less.

[Wilsonandson]

Edited July 14, 2016 by Wilsonandson

[jamesbrock]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

Considering the Polaris Ranger 6x6 starts at US$12,599 (442,000 baht), I'd concur that 8,000,000 baht a piece does deem slightly excessive...

I can't see how anyone, not even Teflon-Sukhumbhand, could seriously argue that a pump, small water tank and two fire extinguishers could cost 7,558,000 baht! (Indeed the other website says that the extinguishers cost 8,000 baht each, and even this is three times market price!)

So lets say it cost them—at a wildest max guess—2 million a piece; that is 120 million baht in public funds that has been illegally funnelled into some influential individuals' personal slush funds.

Again, the utter shamelessness of this level of corruption astounds me.

Similar to the mark-ups applied to the bogus explosive detectors a few years ago. Impossible to explain where the money went, so the detailed costings were never explained in public. But that's OK. Here in Thailand. Because corruption is the system, without it nothing can happen. All Thai people know that, and accept it more or less.

Or the 19 x 4TB hard drives they bought for their CCTV system for 800,000 baht a piece... 5000 baht retail...

Or the 7 x 15TB RAID arrays for 2,777,000 baht each... 55,000 baht retail...

Or the 3 x 20TB RAID arrays for 3,450,000 each... 71,000 baht retail...

So they actually spent 658,000 baht of their (alleged) 44,989,000 baht budget on the hard drives, while 44,331,000 (98.5%!!!!) was pilfered by untouchable influential individuals.

[Thian]

And what about the 300 brand new firetrucks and boats which are parked on a terrain for 8 years now? I thought the plan was to get them running but are they buying mini trucks now?

The commision has been paid on those a long time ago,time to buy some

more,they are not trucks but ATV's, how much water do they carry ?

regards Worgeordie P.S. 8 million THB a pop,seems expensive

http://www.polaris.com/en-us/atv-ranger-rzr/choose-model

I had a quick look and the most expensive Polaris i could find was 25000 us$, not sure if that's a firetruck though.

[BSJ]

An ATV as a fire truck must be about as smart as using a sieve to bail water! And the price......WOW!