Speaker's lavish travel spending faces pro
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THE HOUSE committee on anti-corruption is set to probe Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont and his deputy Charoen Chankomol over allegations that both overspent their overseas travel budgets.
The investigation comes hot on the heels of claims the Office of the Parliament President and Somsak’s close aide, Parliament secretary-general Suwichag Nakwatcharachai, spent budgets unnecessarily and without transparency, like paying Bt15 million for 200 clocks at a price of Bt75,000 each.
The story of over-priced clocks went viral. The government camp quickly shifted into damage-control mode, arguing that the price was not just for the clocks but also the equipment and system to connect to satellites and the Internet, which would ensure that all of the clocks were reporting the correct time even eight hours after a blackout.
Democrat MP Wilas Chanpitak, chief adviser of the committee, said the committee found that Somsak overspent by Bt550,400 from the Bt15.5 million allocated from the fiscal 2010 budget for the House Speaker’s overseas jaunts.
Somsak made six official foreign trips – to South Korea from November 5-8 for Bt1.8 million, China with a delegation of 23 people from December 12-18 for Bt2.3 million, China from April 20-28 for Bt3.3 million, South Korea from May 6-10 for Bt4.7 million and Myanmar from May 7-20 for Bt2.2 million, excluding transport costs and domestic plane tickets.
Charoen, who received Bt10 million, spent Bt14.6 million or Bt4.6 million over the budget on three official trips – China and Mongolia with 26 people from October 26-30 for Bt4.9 million, China from December 14-9 for Bt3.9 million and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates from February 15-19 for Bt5.7 million.
A source from the House committee on parliamentary affairs said the spending by 35 House committees as of August 6 had reached Bt283 million out some Bt379 million appropriated from the fiscal 2013 budget. Each committee has been instructed to divert leftover funds to cover the expenses of Somsak and Charoen, who overspent their budgets.
Wilas said Deputy House Speaker Wisut Chaiarun and opposition Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva had not touched Bt10 million allocated for overseas travel at all.
Democrat MP Ong-art Klampaiboon said that besides the Bt75,000 clocks, Parliament also spent Bt70,000 for each hot and cold water maker imported from South Korea. He called on Somsak to show leadership by ordering a speedy investigation of the alleged procurement irregularities for overpriced items.
