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TV anchor denies joining trip to Hawaii

TV anchor denies joining trip to Hawaii

A CONTROVERSY has shrouded anchorwoman Chonratsamee Ngathaweesuk of the Army-run Channel 5, who has denied taking part in Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan’s recent trip to Hawaii.

Online investigative website Isra News Agency reported yesterday that it has been requested by its Internet service provider to remove a report from last year about Chonratsamee.
Isra News said that CS Loxinfo, which oversees its website’s server, “asked for cooperation” in an email sent to the news provider’s website administrator. The ISP informed Isra News that the request came from an unnamed state agency.
The report, published on December 28, 2014, was headlined “Golden Year for Channel 5 Anchor Chonratsamee Earning Over Bt34 Million”. 
According to the report, the presenter’s two public relations and advertising companies earned a total of Bt34.2 million in 2014.
Chonratsamee, an Army major, was alleged to have been a passenger on Prawit’s chartered flight to Hawaii, which cost almost Bt21 million. 
However, she denied having taken part in the trip between last Thursday and Sunday. She insisted she was on duty in Thailand while the Prawit-led delegation attended an informal meeting on between US and Asean defence ministers.
The charter of a Thai Airways International (THAI) Boeing 747 jumbo jet to Hawaii at a cost Bt20.9 million for just 38 passengers has come under fire.
Chonratsamee’s name was on a supposed list of the flight’s passengers distributed on the Internet but it remained unconfirmed yesterday.
 “On Friday, I was in Bangkok and [doing a] live broadcast on Channel 5’s news programme. I had not gone abroad. And on Saturday, I was at my garden home in Nakhon Nayok province,” she said while hosting her TV programme yesterday morning.
According to a Channel 5 source, two other journalists went on the Hawaii trip. They were military-news editor Mueanfun Kongsri and photographer Jakkapong Paengkamsaen, the source said.
Meanwhile, Channel 5 programme director Colonel Thanatip Sawangsang and news director Colonel Jirasak Iamsomboon yesterday filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division against a Facebook account called “Stop Fake Thailand”, which distributed the unconfirmed list of passengers.
They said a claim in its Facebook message that Channel 5 helped cover up Chonratsamee’s participation in the trip was defamatory. The Channel 5 directors also produced a programme list to prove that the anchorwoman appeared in a live local programme last Friday. 
Critics have called for clarification of the high cost of the trip and that the names of the 38 travellers be revealed.
Prawit earlier said there were some journalists on the trip for the purpose of doing their jobs. He said he was ready to disclose the names, but was later quoted by Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Khongcheep Tantrawanich as saying the list would only be made available to the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG), which is investigating the matter, and not to the press or the public.
The ministry spokesman also confirmed that Chonratsamee was not on the trip, adding that one of those aboard was a US official who accompanied the delegation to facilitate the mission. 
Regarding the jet used for the flight, Khongcheep said THAI had provided the aircraft. He only determined the departure and arrival dates, he said, referring to the speculation about “over-specification” of the aircraft.
He said THAI had not yet sent a bill to the Office of the Prime Minister as the Bt21-million figure was just an estimate.
Meanwhile, Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, yesterday lodged a complaint with the OAG, calling for an investigation into the chartered-flight trip and responsible officials from THAI and the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. 
The OAG began collecting facts from the concerned agencies on Monday and is expected to disclose initial findings from its investigation tomorrow.
Auditor-General Pisit Leelava-|chiropas said that so far the OAG had not found any irregularity involving the trip and was waiting for a bill to be finalised by THAI as part of evidence.
Pisit said a chartered flight was necessary, given that the mission was related to “security affairs” and the delegation had to fly together. He said that besides the trip’s expenditure, the OAG would also determine if certain passengers deserved to be on the trip if that would help answer questions from the public.
According to the unverified name-list of Prawit’s entourage, the passengers also included an executive and a staff member from an agricultural conglomerate. 
Critics asked whether they should have been among the delegates as they had no direct involvement with the international security meeting. 
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