Bangkok: Prepare to invite the Comptroller General’s Department to provide information on procurement and budget disbursement for the Office of the Auditor General’s Building. Chalat’, chairman of the NACC committee, will investigate 2 hot issues. On May 14, the Comptroller General’s Department will be invited to provide information on the procurement and budget disbursement of the State Audit Office building after the answers from the State Audit Office governor and executives were not clear. On May 15, the ‘petitioner and the Election Commission’ will be summoned to resolve the ‘collusion in selecting senators’ issue and find a way to close the loopholes for future corruption.
According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Chalat Khamchuang, MP for Roi Et, Pheu Thai Party, as Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) revealed that even though the parliament session is still closed, the NACC is still working continuously, especially investigating and seeking facts in cases that society is interested in. In the meeting on Wednesday, May 14, 2015, there was an agenda to monitor and inspect the procurement of the construction project of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) building in Chatuchak, Bangkok, with a budget value of more than 2.1 billion baht, which was tragically collapsed, resulting in hundreds of deaths and missing persons.
In the previous meeting, the NACC invited the State Audit Office Governor and the State Audit Office executives to provide information. However, there are still issues that the NACC Committee is still concerned about and has not received answers from the State Audit Office, such as the process of selecting the contractor, the building design that was noted to attempt to avoid the provisions of the Government Procurement and Supplies Management Act 2017 and related regulations, the budget for office equipment, including recreational areas that did not take into account value and necessity, even though it is an agency responsible for inspecting the budget use of other state agencies, as well as the responsibilities of the project supervisor and project administrators.
‘This week’s meeting (May 14, 2015) has invited the Comptroller General’s Department to join in the role of ‘auditor and auditor’ to provide information on procurement and budget disbursement to inspect the State Audit Office, which is the highest auditing organization in the country. As for the governor or executives of the State Audit Office, they will definitely be invited to provide information to the NACC committee again. I confirm that this is not a matter of politics or following social trends, but rather a search for the truth to restore public confidence,’ said Mr. Chalat.
The chairman of the NACC committee added that the meeting on Thursday, May 15, 2025, will have an agenda to consider investigating the 2024 Senate elections, which are suspected of corruption, or the case of collusion in the selection of Senators. Although the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has now issued a summons for the first group of Senators to clarify and defend the allegations to the investigation and inquiry committee in collaboration with the Election Commission (EC), the NACC committee, which has received complaints about irregularities in the 2024 Senate elections, will continue its investigation. The petitioners in various provinces, such as Amnat Charoen Province, as well as the EC, have been invited to provide information to see what loopholes exist in the legal procedures and have been exploited for corruption, in order to improve and close those loopholes, because they directly damage the legislative and democratic branches, both in terms of image and credibility. Furthermore, if th
e assumption that there is an attempt to seize the Senate by sending many of their own people to be Senators, using them as tools to negotiate for political benefits, this is even more unacceptable and absolutely cannot be allowed to happen again.
“As for the DSI, it is a case to prosecute and punish the perpetrators according to the law. As for the NACC committee, it will be an investigation into the various processes in selecting the senators. Are there any flaws or loopholes? How did someone mastermind and act as a group to seize the Senate for political gain without fear of the law like this?” said Mr. Chalat.