NBTC monitoring panel member accused of abusing authority

Trairong Tanthasuk submitted his complaint against Napat Winitchaikul to the NACC at its head office in Nonthaburi province. Napat is a member of the committee monitoring the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s work.

Trairong’s complaint accused Napat of committing malfeasance and nonfeasance. He handed over the complaint to Phairoj Niyomdecha, director of the NACC Investigation and Operations Division 2.

In the complaint, Trairong alleged that Napat’s behaviour had caused damage to the state because he liked to act beyond his authority as a member of the NBTC monitoring panel and former chairman of the panel.

The complaint cited an incident of Napat wearing a shirt with the logo of his monitoring panel to submit a letter to the NBTC opposing the merger of True Corporation and Total Access Communication.

Trairong said Napat’s actions had caused misunderstanding among the public that his panel was opposed to the merger, although the panel had never made an official decision on the issue. He said Napat was supposed to maintain his neutrality in the case.

“Initially, when I saw the report, I thought Napat was acting on behalf of the panel,” Trairong said.

Trairong said Napat also had asked the NBTC to cancel its regulations earlier announced on the merger of telecom firms although the regulations have been enforced to permit other mergers.

This has led to a question as to whether Napat was abusing his authority, Trairong said.

The lawyer added that when Napat was chairman of the monitoring committee, he had signed an order to appoint an adviser to the chairman although there was no law or regulation that empowered him to do so.

Trairong said Napat had also proposed a budget for fiscal year 2020 for the monitoring panel to visit 371 radio stations nationwide, although he had no legal power to do so.

Napat was approved as a member of the NBTC monitoring panel by the National Legislative Assembly on March 13, 2019. The panel voted on April 1, 2019 to make him its chairman but he was deposed as chairman on March 20, 2020 with a majority votes that appointed Pansak Chanpanya as a new chairman.