Democrat MPs to return free iPads

“My friend told me that in developed countries, their governments would spy on important figures using this trick [of lending out devices]. They can check the locations of those people and what messages they send,” he said.

 

The foreign friend, who works in the telecoms business, warned about using the iPads to send personal information or access social media.

 

Samart said he alerted his party’s key members, including party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, and they agreed to give the tablets back. “We should not fall into their trap because of ‘free’ things,” he said.

 

Earlier Democrat party-list MP Boonyod Sukthinthai said he would petition the House committee on parliamentary affairs to investigate the purchase of 808 computer tablets for MPs and senators for irregularities.

 

To begin with, the budget was quoted at Bt55,646,200 and Bt28,000 per tablet versus the Bt26,000 market price. Then accessories were procured such as SIM cards, cases at Bt1,020 each, earphones at Bt965 each, pens at Bt430 each, charger stands at Bt910 each plus two additional years of warrantee at Bt6,000 each, while 3G Internet fees would amount to Bt10,271 per tablet per year.

 

Other items also pushed up costs, such system development and management, training and five automatic scanning machines, he added.