Flood projects 'rife with corruption'

The government has turned a blind eye to rampant corruption in the flood-reconstruction projects, with the ruling Pheu Thai Party's supporters enriching themselves by Bt30 billion from the Bt120-billion spending plan, the Democrats alleged yesterday.

"Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has lapsed into condoning corruption involving her cronies and relatives," Democrat MP Nipit Intarasombat said during the censure debate.

For post-flooding road repair, contractors had to pay 30 per cent commissions in order to get the jobs, Nipit said. Several contracts in the Northeast were bogus and no repairs were done or even needed, he said.

Certain figures close to the government, whom Nipit identified as "the white-haired man" and "the woman with an initial D", had amassed ill-gotten gains amounting to 30 to 40 per cent of the reconstruction spending.

He said he was puzzled why Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung insisted he had found no irregularities after the Office of the Auditor-General and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission had confirmed the launch of graft probes.

Of the 171 reconstruction projects in the Northeast, a winning contractor suspiciously got 43 projects, Democrat MP Niphon Bunyamanee said. The company, Pitpibul Partnership Limited, located in Mukdahan, has registered capital of Bt1 million and was formed in January. One of its partners is Nilrat Sithipan, who is related to Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan, Niphon said.

Democrat MP Wiruch Romyen said another winning contractor in Nakhon Nayok happened to have a managing director who was a former secretary to Chatchart when he was the deputy transport minister. Kriangkrai Kittitanesuan, managing director of the Visithichai Co, used to serve under Chatchart before getting the Bt47 million contract, Wiruch said.

Wiruch said he suspected foul play because the benchmark price for the repairs of a seven-kilometre road was set at Bt5.9 million per kilometre while the normal price at an e-auction would be Bt2.7 million per kilometre.

Furthermore, the road in question was not even located in the flooded area, he said.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/28/flood-projects-rife-with-corruption/