Opposition MP Demands Audit of 1.6 Billion Baht AI Passport Project

On September 21, Democratic Party deputy leader Kaladee Liawpairoj submitted a letter to the State Audit Office requesting an independent investigation into the TH-AI Passport project worth over 1.621 billion baht. She said the party fully backs AI skill-building for Thai citizens but every baht must be spent transparently and deliver real value.

Working with technology experts, Kaladee identified urgent risks requiring audit before budget disbursement. A key concern is a contract amendment that shifted the payment model to a per-active-user basis, but the new terms contain no clear written calculation criteria—leaving most decisions to the employer's discretion. "We worry greatly about opening loopholes for judgment calls without strict contractual standards, especially when we already see signs of inflated usage numbers entering the system," she said. "Without independent oversight, taxpayers may pay without seeing real skill gains."

Causes for alarm also include the project's failure to comply with mandatory ethics agreement requirements stipulated in the original tender documents. The tender explicitly required proposals to sign an ethics accord for contracts worth 1 billion baht or more—a binding condition. Without this signature, Kaladee argues, the legal question arises whether awarding and signing the contract breaches the tender terms and renders it void.

In her submission to the State Audit Office, Kaladee flagged seven major concerns: procurement transparency and specification locking; non-compliance with ethics agreement conditions; system value and real-world AI performance, which she noted falls below free commercial AI tools; ambiguous definitions of active users; payment formula gaps; lack of independent oversight; and risks of contract voidability due to unmet preconditions.