Gadfly Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Why hasn't Thailand paid? Thailand has an appallingly bad reputation when it comes to complying with international arbitration awards. Thailand's record on complying with international obligations is also bad. I haven't seen any mention of this in the Thai press, but Thailand lost a major WTO case and then a recent appeal on that WTO case. The WTO case concerned Thailand's system of valuing imports for determining customs tax. In reaching this decision, the WTO panel found that the Thai government had misrepresented its own laws. That's pretty amazing. Surely Thai officials understand their own laws. But instead of trying to defend them, they misrepresented what their laws said. Perhaps because they knew they were indefensible under Thailand's WTO obligations? It's not just this one case. There is a bigger problem here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Granted and agreed. But my question is... why didn't they pay to begin with when construction was completed and according to their original contract with the German company? What was their excuse originally to just not pay? So, what was their gripe to not pay to begin with? Before it got to the courts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Gaddie, "I haven't seen any mention of this in the Thai press, but Thailand lost a major WTO case and then a recent appeal on that WTO case. The WTO case concerned Thailand's system of valuing imports for determining customs tax. In reaching this decision, the WTO panel found that the Thai government had misrepresented its own laws. That's pretty amazing." You are talking about the recent suit by the Philippines tobacco companies, yes? There suddenly seems to be an influx of many Philippino cigarette brands around here in Isaan. And most are selling for cheaper than the Thai ciggies (28/30 baht a pack for Astro Reds, a Phil brand). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Cent, I think we all know the answer, as to why they haven't paid, greed and corruption. And like all those traveling the greedy and corrupt highway, the road's end comes nearer and nearer each day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted July 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 I seem to recall some flap over the toll way company instituting a major increase in the toll. It became controversial, and the government finally took over control themselves. It wasn't under Abhisit either. Takky maybe? But what about Kasit's claim that Walter Bau AG had no contract with the Thai govmt and was only a shareholder? Can shareholders sue somebody? You know how far back this goes, since you are talking about a toll way to the THEN airport, Don Muang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Well, the ministry of foreign affairs told Kasit they are sorry for the inconveniences. But there's nothing they can do. They won't interfere with an independent jurisdiction. The court in Landshut did not yet decide if the plane is indeed the crown princes property. They said the evidence presented was not sufficient to prove it. Therefore the plane is not released. My take on this: as the case is not decided it's possible to present more evidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 seems counter-productive to mention that 'we got plenty of assets' when trying to defend a case lol. but maybe the outgoing PM intends to leave a bigger mess for the incoming admin (in case tuesday will endorse her as MP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Flash is right about this going back a long time. I remember seeing articles about the dispute more than ten years ago. I saw a good summary of the underlying facts somewhere on the internet awhile back and if I can find it again, I will post a link. As I see it, the important points here are that (a) an award was issued against Thailand in an arbitration before a respected arbitral body, ( Thailand failed to pay, © Thailand's excuses for failing to pay make no sense and (d) now the Thai government is furious because the prevailing party has embarrassed the government tremendously in trying to enforce its award. Why did they let it get this far? They could have easily avoided all of this embarrassment by simply honoring their obligation - under international law - to comply with arbitration award. All of this melodrama is just making matters worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadfly Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Flash is right about this going back a long time. I remember seeing articles about the dispute more than ten years ago. I saw a good summary of the underlying facts somewhere on the internet awhile back and if I can find it again, I will post a link. As I see it, the important points here are that (a) an award was issued against Thailand by a respected arbitral body, ( Thailand failed to pay, © Thailand's excuses for failing to pay make no sense and (d) now the Thai government is furious because the prevailing party has embarrassed the government tremendously in trying to enforce its award. Why did they let it get this far? They could have easily avoided all of this embarrassment by simply honoring their obligation - under international law - to comply with arbitration award. All of this melodrama is just making matters worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardy641 Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Why did they let it come that far? There is only one answer....TIT. Typical behavior of Thai Government authorities. Last year I worked at the Airport Link Project and warned SRT about a particular paragraph in the contract with German Rail (DB). The SRT deputy governor smiled and said there has never been any SRT supplier making money and there will never be one. Well after 1 year of not getting paid, DB stopped all activities and closed its offices in Thailand. Today the trains are operated without expert support and IT systems. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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