The Royal Thai Navy yesterday denied there were irregularities in a Bt3.3-billion project to upgrade the weaponry systems on two frigates and a Bt553.5-million project to buy three utility vessels.
Navy Chief-of-Staff Admiral Jakchai Phucharoenyos, Admiral Thaweewut Pongpipat, a special adviser to the Navy, and Vice Admiral Pallop Tamisanon, assistant Navy chief-of-staff, held a press conference to dispute allegations raised by Democrat MPs during the censure debate on Monday.
The Opposition MPs alleged that Defence Minister ACM Sukampol Suwannathat was behind the irregularities in the projects and alleged the prices were too high, leading to a high level of kickbacks.
Jakchai said the Navy would not fail the public regarding the two projects and had carried out the projects taking public interest into account.
Thaweewut said the upgrading of naval and weaponry systems for the two frigates involved no irregularities.
Thaweewut said the Navy decided to change from a Sagem rotating decoy launching system to a fixed-based Terma SKWS decoy launching system from Saab because the Terma system had been considered the best for the frigates.
Thaweewut said it was not true, as alleged by the Democrat MPs, that the non-rotating system was obsolete. He said using a rotating system would require a lot of space and was more costly. It also affected the landing of helicopters.
Thaweewut said the rotating system would also obstruct the launching of decoys on the front side of the frigates and would cause a 50-per-cent drop in efficiency.
He insisted the Terma SKWS decoy-launching system could fire decoys at 360 degrees to protect the frigate against missiles and torpedo attacks.
Thaweewut explained that Saab gave a discount to the Royal Thai Navy as the service worked on a restricted budget. The budget of Bt3.3 billion was divided into two parts - Bt2.7 billion for the decoy system and Bt600 million for the decoys.
Thaweewut said the Terma system was Bt100 million lower than Sagem so Saab provided other navigation tools for the Navy free of charge. Thaweewut said it was impossible for the supplier of the system to pay a kickback of Bt1 billion as alleged by Democrat MP Sirichoke Sopha.
Pallop told the press conference the purchase of the three utility vessels had complied with the terms of reference. He said the supplier of the vessels had been selected because their vessels had met the criteria.
He said Cummins, the supplier, had certified that its navigation system would work well with the main engine of the vessels although they are of different brands.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/28/no-kickbacks-in-purchase-of-systems-navy/
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