'Politicians implicated' in Bt30m flood money embezzlement
An ongoing investigation has suggested that up to Bt30 million - nearly half the money reimbursed for flood victims' food in four Bangkok districts - might have been embezzled during the severe inundation last year.
“The investigation has implicated some politicians,” Chanchai Issarasenarak yesterday said in his capacity as an adviser to the House subcommittee on budget use for flood-relief operations.
Chanchai said the investigation is already 90 per cent complete and it is quite clear who were involved.
“We have found that most people identified in documents as food-box suppliers in fact are those who were not involved in the services at all and were not aware their names had been abused,” Chanchai said.
The alleged corruption in these claims involves Bt61 million in funds allocated by the Social Development and Welfare Department for flood victims in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang, Klong Sam Wa, Min Buri and Nong Chok districts.
Chanchai said the Department of Special Investigation, the Revenue Department and Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission had assisted in the ongoing probe.
Moreover, he said the House subcommittee found that the Cabinet on March 6 approved a huge budget for the Highways Department’s construction of embankments along floodways.
“To approve the budget, the Cabinet specified dike construction in many places. However, the Royal Irrigation Department has disclosed that it has not yet identified the floodways,” Chanchai said.
The House subcommittee has summoned Highways Department officials to testify on the issue on May 16. The budget approved for the Highways Department’s construction projects on March 6 came from the massive loan the current government sought in the wake of the 2011 flood crisis.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit yesterday said he had no plan to investigate an allegation that the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department (DPMD) did not pay Good World Intertrade for 36,000 bags of relief items it supplied to the DPMD during the flood crisis. Each bag was worth Bt500.
The company has already filed a petition with the Central Administrative Court.
“I won’t order a probe because the DPMD director-general has insisted a purchase order was issued,” Yongyuth said.
