BMA 'not permitted' to extend BTS concession
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The Interior Ministry has never given permission to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to extend the Skytrain concession, Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit was cited as saying.
A Department of Special Investigation source said yesterday that Yongyuth, also deputy prime minister, made the denial in response to a DSI query.
This would mean that, under a coup-enabled rule, the BMA had acted illegally in granting the extension to BTS, the operator of the Skytrain. The BMA has insisted that it was authorised to extend the management contract and the DSI’s decision to use a decades-old rule against the city was unfair and discriminatory.
The city has also threatened to file a complaint with the Central Administrative Court against the DSI’s efforts to make the matter a criminal case.
The DSI will submit Yongyuth’s answer at a meeting of the Special Case Committee on September 7. The panel is expected to decide whether the BMA appeared to be criminally liable for the move and assign the case to the DSI for further investigation.
