Duty-free auction another chance for Prayut to practise what he preaches on corruption
Thailand has been gripped by nepotism, cronyism, patronage and corruption for many years. With the military government now in charge, such malpractice has in no way lessened.
In two years’ time, King Power’s exclusive contract to operate duty free shops will expire. Airports of Thailand will then auction off the rights to operate the duty-free business in all airports.
It is a well-documented fact that the late King Power chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha had strong political connections with the Thaksin government and therefore was awarded a monopolistic concession that resulted in huge loss of revenue to the government coffers. Much of the profit from that concession was channelled into buying Leicester City football club.
Thai taxpayers and foreign tourists have been paying excessively high prices for duty free goods and other airport services such as food, without much say in the matter. One wonders who, other than the concessionaire, is benefiting from such exclusive rights. The case was brought up in court by Democrat Charnchai Issarasenarak, who alleged that King Power had colluded with airport officials to pay only 3 per cent of revenues to the government, when the franchise requirement was 15 per cent – a loss of Bt14 billion. The court threw out the case on grounds that the alleged corruption did not damage Charnchai himself. However, malpractice has been generally acknowledged, and Charnchai is now taking the case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Let us see whether Prayut Chan-o-cha practises what he preaches, gets serious about tackling corruption and demands transparency in the bidding process. Or is his daily “Bring Happiness to the People” programme on TV merely a show.
The Insider
