High hopes stay grounded in Rolls Royce affair

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EDITORIAL

 

High hopes stay grounded in Rolls Royce affair
By The Nation

 

Given our governments’ track record, both civilian and military, the bribery probe is unlikely to clip any wings

 

BANGKOK: -- It is probably wishful thinking to expect the military-led government to seize on the Rolls Royce scandal as an opportunity to root out corruption in state-run enterprises. Rather, without a means of pinning all the blame on former premier Thaksin Shinawatra or the junta’s other political foes, the investigation is likely to be a whitewash.

 

Thai Airways International and PTT have both been implicated in the globe-spanning case in which Rolls Royce – by its own admission to a British court – paid bribes to officials in several countries between June 1991 to February 2005. National flag carrier THAI is alleged to have received three bribes from the British engineering firm in exchange for agreeing to purchase its jet engines.

 

Rolls Royce says it paid US$18.8 million between June 1991 and June 1992 to representatives of both the airline and the Thai government to secure an initial contract. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/today_editorial/30304735

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-24

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