(Bangkok Post via NewsEdge) The new board of Thailand's TOT expects to take three months to review all concessions granted by its predecessors, with a view to scrapping any deals that placed the state telecom enterprise at a disadvantage.
Directors set up three working groups to scrutinise the concessions, at the direction of the new board chairman, Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr, the assistant secretary-general of the Council for National Security.
'TOT's problems could be compared to the fall of the ancient capital of Ayutthaya because insiders opened the wall and allowed the enemies to sneak in and plunder all our wealth and fortunes,' Saprang said.
He said he had hand-picked each person on the 14-member board and believed each one had the experience and the expertise to deal with the deeply rooted problems of TOT.
Critics claim that TOT has long been a captive of vested interest groups that have secured favourable deals. Among the contentious concession changes have been those involving AIS, the country's largest mobile operator and part of the Shin group founded by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The new review comes after the Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling against the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority (ETA) in its case against the expressway contractor BBCD Joint Venture.
The ruling opens the door for other contracts between state agencies and private operators to possibly be voided if evidence of malfeasance is found.
TOT vice-chairman Chaowalit Settamaeteekul said directors would focus on whether concessions unfairly favoured private operators to the extent that the state was damaged, how the damage could be fixed and through which channels.
He said the problems in TOT had been accumulating for a long time and had weakened the organisation, whether by intention or carelessness.
However, Chaowalit stressed that the new board would make everything transparent, bring wrongdoers to justice, and restore the organization to health.
A source familiar with board matters said the first task of the new board would be to investigate the addition of 560,000 telephone numbers for TOT. Contractors finished the project and delivered the new numbers to TOT last August, but the numbers are not functioning yet.
© 2007 Bangkok Post
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