All-too-familiar allegations over telecoms deal

The government will have to investigate the alleged “five unusual practices” that an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Committee has found in the 3G service deal between CAT Telecom and True Corp.

ICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap is set to put forward the ICT Committee’s finding to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and will ask the CAT board to investigate the case in line with the committee’s conclusion.

However, the parties and companies that are affected by the conclusion of the ICT Ministry’s committee on the CAT Telecom-True Corp 3G service partnership deal claim that the conclusion is politically motivated.

Regardless of whether the case is driven by political motives, the ICT Ministry does not have any other choice except to bring the truth to light. After all, the public interest is at stake here.

If the allegations are proven to be true, then there must be a remedy to the state from the damages that are occurred from these unusual practices. The public will certainly hope that this case is not simply another allegation out of thin air to serve certain political purposes, or – if indeed it has legal basis – it will not fade away without anyone being brought to justice. 

The public will not take this case lightly, especially after the ICT committee made such strong allegations over the unusual practices in the way the CAT-True 3G partnership deals were developed. 

The ICT Ministry’s committee assigned to probe the deals found five irregularities in the process in which the deals were made.

In the view of the committee, one irregularity is that the process was politically planned in advance to pave the way for CAT and True to sign partnership deals to launch a 3G service. 

Moreover, CAT did not act according to the right procedure and the right channels when making its submission to the ICT Ministry to be forwarded to the Cabinet regarding its plan to develop the 3G service.

Among the allegations are alleged political interference which resulted in CAT failing to take over Hutchison Telecom’s business in Thailand and paving the way for the True Group to do so instead.

With this serious allegation, the concerned parties cannot stay idle. The previous ICT minister, Chuti Krairiksh of the Democrat Party, claims that the committee’s conclusion is tantamount to political revenge for the Shin Corp affair. True, however, has sent a release to the press to reaffirm that the deals were made in full compliance with the law. 

The reputations of the parties involved have already been tarnished by these allegations. Therefore, the ICT Ministry must proceed with a full investigation at the earliest opportunity. If anyone or any party is found to have committed unusual practices, then they must be punished.

If the case simply disappears, like other irregularity allegations have done in the past, then this case is likely to lead to another political smear campaign. If this transpires to be the case, the public will feel even more fed up with Thailand’s gutter politics and corrupt politicians. Public sentiment regarding politics is already at rock bottom, and people are simply tired of graft, shady deals and mud-slinging tactics aimed at destroying their opponents. 

Unfortunately this will certainly not be the last case in which politicians and officials are accused of being involved with unusual deals, or of political interference in huge concession projects. The findings of this investigation must be an exemplary case to ensure transparency in future deals between the public and private sector. The national interest is at stake here, as well as that of the millions of users of telecommunications networks.