Thailand mulls separate lawsuit over purchase of bogus devices

A British court recently ordered Briton James McCormick to forfeit assets worth 7.9 million pounds (about Bt395 million) to give to countries that purchased the bogus devices. 

Wissanu reasoned that the British ruling was made in connection with ADE 651 bomb detectors, but Thai state agencies had mostly bought GT200 bomb detectors and Alpha 6 narcotics detectors. He said that though these three devices were produced by different companies, they were all linked. 

He also said there was a chance that Thailand would not have to file a separate lawsuit if the one filed with British courts was a class action. “If it was a class-action suit, Thailand might benefit from the ruling.” 

He said that so far none of the involved Thai agencies had obtained a copy of the UK court ruling, adding that he would have Thai prosecutors seek a copy of the ruling from their British counterparts or from other countries that had bought the bogus devices. 

Seventeen Thai agencies bought 1,400 devices worth Bt1.2 billion.

Wissanu said investigation in connection with the procurement of the devices focused on allegations of corruption, collusion in the bidding and irregularities as the devices were bought at highly inflated prices. 

“Wrongdoers in these cases were mostly state officials,” he said.

The private sector or sales agents and producers of the devices also face investigation for deceiving officials into buying them. 

“But if the state officials knew that the sales agents were cheating, but still colluded with them, then they would be charged with conspiring in fraud,” Wissanu said. 

He explained that Thai state agencies had asked the United Kingdom to name Thailand as a damaged party in the suit, but the UK was hesitant because under Thai law such offenders could face a death sentence. 

As for filing a separate lawsuit, Wissanu said he was consulting officials specialising in foreign litigation to see if it was worth taking that route. 

“We have to take everything into account, the legal fees, the lawyers’ fees and whether we would have to share the compensation with other countries. We have to see what we will get if we win the suit. If it is worth it, then we will go ahead, otherwise we will let it go,” he said.