Criminal action needed over GT200 purchases
The evidence against the GT200 bomb detectors seems overwhelming. Are those in its favour trying to defend the indefensible? Our National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre and the British government have concluded that the devices did not work as
Yet, Defence Minister Sukampol Suwanathat insists that “They have worked and detected bombs on many occasions. They are worthwhile when they find even a single bomb”.
If Sukampol’s logic holds, then he should be even more in favour of a bomb detector that works 50 per cent of the time – more than double the GT200’s effectiveness rate – and requires only five minutes’ training, and is so simple that a five-year-old can operate it equally well as any adult.
Not only that, it works from hundreds of kilometres away from the alleged bomb, and costs only one baht each, rather than the GT200’s Bt1 million per unit. Every soldier has a few of them in his pocket, for they are coins.
At a time when the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s polls show that the public perceives that corruption has been as high as ever under PM Yingluck’s watch, with graft taking 30-35 per cent of the public budget for big projects, and at least 13 state agencies having bought the devices, she should seriously consider the Department of Special Investigation’s conclusion that the GT200 detectors are defective and overpriced.
And she should order the Defence Ministry and other agencies to bring criminal and civil actions against the manufacturer and distributors.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
