NACC Charges Former Kaeng Krachan Mayor in Bid-Rigging
The NACC has charged the former mayor of Kaeng Krachan and his accomplices with rigging a bid for an electric bucket truck worth 2.45 million baht by imposing bogus European standards to favor a single company. They suppressed the tender publication online to hide the fraud and allowed an unauthorized person to sign the contract. The case has been sent to the Attorney General for prosecution.
The NACC resolved to charge the former mayor of Kaeng Krachan TAO, identified only as Mr. A, along with officials and a group of private nominees, with criminal and serious disciplinary offences for collusive bidding on an electric bucket truck repair vehicle valued at 2,447,000 baht. Investigators found the officials had used a “technical corruption” scheme, re‑using a pre‑prepared set of technical specifications (TOR) that had been rejected twice before, without verifying market prices, and deliberately required CE, DIN, OHSAS and ISO 50001 standards that were unrelated to the truck’s actual use, ensuring only one company linked to the real backer, Somdej, could qualify, with its employees acting as nominees. The former mayor also refused to allow the draft announcement and TOR to be published on the government procurement website and the TAO’s site, blocking public scrutiny, and later let the contract be signed by someone who was not the company’s legal managing director. The NACC has forwarded the case to the Attorney General for prosecution in the corrupt‑conduct court.
