BMTA faces lawsuit alleging collusion over NGV bus bid
AN NGV operator is suing Pol General Aek Angsananont, in his capacity as chairman of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) board, and another eight defendants for allegedly rigging bids for the purchase and maintenance of 489 NGV-fuelled buses.
Bestrin Group, which installs natural-gas-for-vehicles systems, has filed a lawsuit against Aek, who is also deputy police chief, along with seven members of the BMTA’s board and the director of JVCC Joint Venture Suradej Taweesangsahultai, for alleged collusion.
The lawsuit was presented to the Criminal Court yesterday by Bestrin’s representative Thinnakorn Phanpanishakul, and the court will decide whether to accept it next Friday.
The BMTA invited bids for the purchase of NGV buses, including repair and maintenance, on March 23, and both Bestrin and JVCC applied.
However, the plaintiff says JVCC was allowed to win the bid even though its documents were incomplete and did not declare details of the bus parts and how the vehicles were made. JVCC should have been disqualified from the very start, the lawsuit says.
The plaintiff said it had appealed to the BMTA in July to protest against the bid result, but the agency responded by saying it had done everything correctly.
Previously, Bestrin had filed a lawsuit against BMTA and acting BMTA board chairman Prani Sukrasorn with the Administrative Court, asking for the bid results to be cancelled and the signing of the contract be halted.
However, the court refused to take up the case because it said Bestrin had not incurred losses as the BMTA had yet to release the name of the winner and sign an agreement.
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