New airport delay

[elef]

SUVARNABHUMI: Contractor warns over airport delay

Published on May 07, 2005

 

Ital-Thai says consortium will abide by whatever govt decides but should not be held liable for further postponement

 

After keeping his lips sealed for two weeks, Premchai Karnasuta, president of Italian-Thai Development Plc, emerged yesterday declaring that his company-led consortium should not be liable for any delay to the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport due to the complications in scanner procurement.

 

?We should not be held responsible for this incidental error,? he told a press conference in his first public appearance since the airport scandal broke.

 

Despite the government?s attempts to blow this affair up into a matter of national honour, Premchai played down the chaos. He acknowledged that the government might want a replacement for the CTX 9000 DSi machines that were originally ordered from GE InVision and ITO Joint Venture, which is 40-per-cent owned by Ital-Thai, stood ready to abide by whatever direction the government might choose.

 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Thursday mentioned a possible shift from InVision?s equipment to the 10065/10080 EDS from German manufacturer Heimann. That development followed Thaksin?s threat to retaliate against InVision for coming up with the allegations of bribe-taking by Thai officials, which he took as a slur on the entire nation.

 

Echoing Thaksin?s tune is Patriot Business Consultants, the local broker for the InVision scanners, which recently launched a campaign against the US for tarnishing the country?s image.

 

No matter what the government and Patriot have said over possible reprisals, Premchai insisted ITO had not yet received any document instructing it to suspend or cancel its agreement with InVision.

 

?The deal stays intact. The goods are ready to ship, as soon as a direct contract is signed,? he said.

 

InVision, after it was bought out by GE Infrastructure Security in December and renamed GE In-Vision, had alerted ITO about the shipment, he said. Rather than selling to Patriot Business Consultants, InVision wanted to supply the equipment directly to New Bang-kok International Airport Co (NBIA), the state-owned developer of the airport project.

 

After months of negotiation, InVision and NBIA were about to strike a deal when all hell broke loose two weeks ago, Premchai said.

 

?There is no problem following GE?s request for a direct contract. After we learned about [the settlement with the US Justice Depart-ment that required InVision to contact only a government entity], the contract was amended.

 

?I don?t know why the new contract couldn?t be signed, probably because of this mess-up,? he said.

 

The scanner procurement was never expected to turn into such a big problem, he said. The price was within NBIA?s budget and InVision had secured the US government export licence needed to ship the hi-tech security equipment out of the country.

 

When ITO was first told to take on extra work following the passenger terminal?s redesign to increase passenger-handling capacity and to incorporate the scanners in the inline baggage-screening system, he was more worried about the volume of the extra jobs, not the scanner procurement.

 

The CTX 9000 model was selected by ITO?s design consultant, Cage Inc, which had experience with the system at over 30 airports in the United States. The choice was also endorsed by NBIA?s independent adviser, Quatrotec Inc.

 

In 2001 ITO was awarded the prime contract to construct the passenger-terminal complex. The separate contract for the baggage-handling infrasture, which includes the inline screening system, was just added last year. NBIA considered that ITO should be made the sole contractor for the entire passenger terminal for expediency?s sake.

 

?We never wanted it. The systems are complex, and we need to change so many things to accommodate the machines, which weigh about 10 tonnes each. But no matter what we said, we were told to take this job. Then we were worried more about related work than the machines themselves,? he said.

 

Under the existing terms, InVision was supposed to send over the first 10 machines by the middle of last December. Despite the months of delay, if the direct-supply contract is struck today and delivery starts immediately, ITO could complete the installation by the scheduled opening on September 28, Premchai said.

 

?If not, it?s beyond our control,? he said, adding that ITO should not be fined Bt2.5 million a day if the baggage system completion was stalled.

 

Achara Deboonme, Watcharapong Thongrung

 

The Nation

[elef]

AIRPORT SCANDAL: GE InVision faces govt ban if it fails to clarify claims

Published on May 07, 2005

 

PM says it?s up to firm to explain its involvement in bribery case, or else

 

The government has increased the pressure on US-based GE InVision to clear up bribery allegations against local officials by threatening to blacklist the company.

 

The move came amid criticism that the government was trying to create a distraction instead of getting to the bottom of the scandal.

 

?We will have no choice but to ban the company from any future deals if it fails to explain its involvement in the alleged bribes?, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.

 

Thaksin reiterated his position that US authorities and the company were obliged to clear up doubts surrounding the deal to buy 26 CTX explosive-detection machines for Suvarnabhumi Airport.

 

?US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has promised to resolve the issue soon and I am waiting to see what action he takes,? the prime minister said.

 

Thaksin ruled out a call from opposition members for Justice Minister Suwat Liptapanlop to travel to the US to collect evidence, saying the opposition was trying to drive a wedge between relevant parties rather than shed light on the scandal.

 

The burden of proof rests with the accusers, he said, adding that the deal was negotiated between airport contractor ITO Joint Venture and subcontractor Patriot Business Consultants Co.

 

He said the government was ready to fight a court battle if it decided it was necessary to cancel the deal in order to safeguard the country?s reputation.

 

Former diplomat Asda Chaiyanam said the prime minister appeared to be hastily ruling out the involvement of government officials in the scandal.

 

?Thaksin has tried to rally public sentiment by threatening to cancel the deal, which he says is hurting national honour,?? he said.

 

?By inciting patriotism, he seems to be ignoring the issue of corruption and who benefited from it.?

 

Asda said he wanted to know why Thaksin was quick to dismiss bribery allegations before the official investigation was completed.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Vishanu Krua-ngam said he would wait for the report from the government-appointed panel investigating the deal before deciding whether to replace the company with an alternate supplier.

 

The report is expected next week.

 

Vishanu said alternative suppliers included a German company and another US-based manufacturer.

 

The government has many options, he said, ranging from cancelling the deal altogether to buying one or two machines from the current supplier and the rest from other sources.

 

Should the government opt to go with a new supplier, it would have to review two key factors before finalising its decision, he said.

 

Those two factors concern the possibility that new machines would require baggage conveyor belts to be reconfigured and what steps would need to be taken to deal with parcels destined for US airports, where safety standards require scanning by CTX machines.

 

Vishanu said Suvarnabhumi Airport might need a separate security check for US-bound flights.

 

Thanaboon Jiranuwat, an expert in international law, said the government might be sued in US courts if it cancelled the deal.

 

He urged the government to seek evidence of bribery from the US Justice Department before making its next move.

 

If US legal authorities refuse to reveal the evidence, he said, the government could launch ?disclosure litigation?.

 

That would result in the country having a clear picture on the allegations it is facing and place it in a better position to keep or cancel the deal, he said.

 

Piyanart Srivalo, Sathien Viriyapanpongsa

 

The Nation

[Khun_Kong]

For anybody who has been following this, the whole thing is a typical Thai business fuck-up.

 

Some of Thaksin's own statements (paraphrased a bit):

 

"I will sue the US/GE InVision in US courts for defaming Thailand"

 

...Good Luck with that! When a corporation admits in court to potential/actual bribery and the US makes those documents public records... tough shit whose reputation is tarnished.

 

 

 

"There cannot be any government corruption, since no contracts were signed with Thai government officials"

 

...Oh pulleeease. What about the intermediary companies, who are profiting by 10s of MILLIONS of US DOLLARS? The Patriot Company? Owned by Thais? Surely, nobody at that corporation has any conection to anybody in the Thai government.

 

 

 

"We (Thai gov) will cancel the contracts"

 

...Remember asshole, the Thai gov doesn't have any contracts to cancel (see above)

 

 

 

"This problem caused by the US may cause the airport opening to be dalayed"

 

Fuck you. You already announced a delay. The thing has never been on schedule. It was announced last month that it should not be expected to open until at least March of 2006. They HAD to make that announcement because of some contractual thing involving a 6-month notice must be given for the opening date (I can't remember why). There were a series of articles stating the delayed opening date, followed by the minister saying he wasn't allowed to acknowledge the delay.

 

 

 

But, the absolute best:

 

"We have known about this since Decembner, 2004 and investigated it and there were no Thai officials involved."

 

Q:"But, Mr. T, if you have already conducted a thorough investigation, why did your transportation minister say he had no knowledge of any of this?"

 

A (and I swear, I'm not making this up): "The investigation was a secret"

 

 

 

Thai people are so used to being lied to, they just bend over and take it up the ass repeatedly, all the while saying, "Thank you, K. Thaksin, may I have another?". This whole thing only came to light because of a merger with In Vision and the GE subsidiary. That's when the SEC stepped in.

 

Those who know my posts know that I am no apologist for Amerika. We CAN do some good corporate investigations, though, especially concerning the accounting stuff! These allegations came up in the SEC audit that was conducted.

 

 

Now, K.T. says he will buy the machines elsewhere. Unless these machines or the other American model is installed, NO FLIGHTS WILL BE PERMITTED FROM BKK TO THE US! Yeah, I guess the baggage could be offloaded at NRT and scanned there. Good luck with that one, too.

 

Thai+government+money = corruption. T's squawking won't change that knowledge in the rest of the world, but will probably pull the wool a bit more over the eyes of the Thai sheep.

 

Now when the airport is delayed, they can blame it on the farang.

 

I was going to post about this nonsense a couple of times, but was too lazy. It's now gotten way past the point of ridiculous.

[chilli13]

"Now, K.T. says he will buy the machines elsewhere. Unless these machines or the other American model is installed, NO FLIGHTS WILL BE PERMITTED FROM BKK TO THE US! Yeah, I guess the baggage could be offloaded at NRT and scanned there. Good luck with that one, too."

 

so why would that be? cant germans make decent enough scanners or is this the USs version of blackmail?

I'm sure all sorts of vendors have installed various scanners at various airports around the world & I bet all connect with US

 

sure a typical thai fuck up it may be & great for journalism ::

[Khun_Kong]

ib13 said:

"Now, K.T. says he will buy the machines elsewhere. Unless these machines or the other American model is installed, NO FLIGHTS WILL BE PERMITTED FROM BKK TO THE US! Yeah, I guess the baggage could be offloaded at NRT and scanned there. Good luck with that one, too."

 

so why would that be? cant germans make decent enough scanners or is this the USs version of blackmail?

I'm sure all sorts of vendors have installed various scanners at various airports around the world & I bet all connect with US

 

sure a typical thai fuck up it may be & great for journalism ::

 

Pretty confusing story, but, if I read it correctly, in several different articles, it's US blackmail, a US requirement that the NEW airport have this standard. Don't know if they are grandfathering and what the point would be if other airports are allowed "lower quality" standards.

 

Even better is that InVision was, I believe, a German company before the US subsidiary of GE merged with them.

[Flashermac]

The amazing thing is that EDUCATED Thais -- even many with western earned PhD's -- still by into the cr*p. My own Mrs has voted twice for the T-man.

 

 

Remember what P. T. Barnum said ...

[chilli13]

Im not so sure educated thais buy into CRAP, but they may think KT is the best option at the moment

[samak]

Flashermac said:Remember what P. T. Barnum said ...

there's a sucker born every minute???

[Flashermac]

You're probably right. Mr T formed his own political party with the sole purpose of making himself the PM. And amazingly enough he did it. He has also become the first elected PM with a majority in Parliament. Have to give him credit for that.

 

Meanwhile, the other parties have more or less self-destructed.

 

p.s. An expat friend summed it up years ago. "They aren't political parties," he said. "They're gangs." Except for the Democrats, virtually no party has had a real platform. They hardly qualify as parties in the western sense.

 

[elef]

or

money is a terrible master but an excellent servant