FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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THAI bill for Prawit trip in two months

THAI bill for Prawit trip in two months

Airline takes action over ‘fake’ passenger list for junket.

THAI AIRWAYS International will take two months to disclose its finalised bill for Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan’s controversial chartered flight to Hawaii last week, its top executive told a press conference yesterday.
THAI president Charamporn Jotikasthira was speaking at a |joint press conference at |Government House along with Defence Ministry spokesman Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanit and government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd. 
The national carrier has also filed a petition against social media users for leaking what it says is a “false” passenger list, adding that the actual list cannot be published since client privacy had to be protected. 
The unverified passenger list was published by “Stop Fake Thailand”, a popular anti-government Facebook page. The leaked list features the name of Army-run Channel 5 anchorwoman Major Chonratsamee Ngataweesuk along with so-called “irrelevant” delegates from an agricultural conglomerate. 
The trip on a Boeing 747 for just 38 passengers cost almost Bt21 million and has been criticised for being unnecessarily expensive. The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) is today set to deliver the findings of its week-long probe into the junket. 
Auditor-General Pisit Leelavachiropas said yesterday that no irregularities had been discovered, adding that his agency would extend its probe and refer the case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) if members of the public still had doubts about the trip.
“Out of 38 passengers, one was a US official and four were civilians, including two journalists from Channel 5 and a pair of officials from the Defence Ministry. The other 33 were officials from the ministry and other security-related agencies,” said Pisit. 
The auditor-general said that Chonratsamee and the corporate executives named in the “fake” list were not in fact on the flight. 
Regarding the cost of the flight, he said the OAG would wait for THAI to deliver the final bill before deciding whether the cost was reasonable or not. 
Meanwhile, Channel 5 admitted yesterday that its anchorwoman Chonratsamee had originally been scheduled to join the trip to cover the Asean-US Defence Ministers’ meeting. But her attendance was cancelled because the TV station failed to find a replacement. 
“She had to host a live morning news programme. At first we thought we could find a broadcaster to host the programme in her place on September 29 and 30, but we could not. So she had to cancel the |trip,” said Colonel Thanathip Sawangsang, a division director at Channel 5. 
Prawit’s delegation was in Honolulu to attend a September 29-October 1 informal meeting between US Defence Secretary Ash Carter and his counterparts from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 
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