NACC set to decide on setting up subcommittee to probe bribery allegations
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will decide on Thursday whether to set up a subcommittee to investigate allegations of bribery involving UK-based jet-engine maker Rolls-Royce and some Thai companies.
“We will see tomorrow if there is enough evidence to set up the sub-panel,” NACC chairman Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said on Wednesday.
Thai Airways International (THAI) and other state agencies are alleged to have received huge kickbacks from Rolls-Royce and US-based General Cable Corp in return for signing lucrative business deals.
Besides THAI’s cumulative US$36.3-million (nearly Bt1.3 billion) bribery cases that allegedly occurred between 1991 and 2005, state-owned PTT units as well as the Provincial Electricity Authority, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and TOT all face allegations that they were involved in separate bribery cases related to the purchases of industrial engines, cables and wires from 2002 to 2013.
Watcharapol said it was likely that the NACC would use the nine NACC members as the panel to investigate the matter because it was a national scandal.
He said the anti-graft body was authorised to probe the matter because some of the wrongdoings were still within the statutes of limitation.