absolutelyBangkok archive · Politics
Originally published Nov. 12, 2008
Allow a few words on the fire truck and boat procurement scandal that shook and still shakes Bangkok administrations. A classic Thai zero sum game with losers only. Practically everybody involved has now been found guilty according to the National Counter Corruption Commission NCCC. But guilty of what?!
(Check comments below for latest updates.)
The height of the scandal had “coincided” with the change of power in Bangkok and the ensuing power struggle between Thailand’s current two main forces. And there the punching bag was, Austrian company Steyr Daimler Puch, manufacturer of the pick-ups, trucks and boats — caught in the center of a textbook Thai power struggle and turned into a grateful scapegoat.
Steyr was accused of overcharging and breaching the contract… I had a talk back then with Steyr’s Bangkok office. The poor Austrians couldn’t believe what they were suddenly accused of. One accusation: According to the contract Steyr had to deliver imported cars. Not true, Steyr said: “The client had seen the “Made in Thailand” prototype.” A scandal was born.
“The client knew,” I was told, “that the empty chassis of the pick-ups would be produced in Thailand. The client knew that car maker Mitsubishi assembles that very model only in Thailand.” Steyr then exported the empty cars to Europe, where they were equipped with all the bells and whistles, and re-exported back to Thailand.
Steyr had even ordered the raw empty chassis at Mitsubishi’s European headquarters in London. As Mitsubishi produced the ordered vehicles solely in Thailand, they built them in Thailand — remember, the “Detroit of the East”… No magic to it, no hidden agenda. The buyer, said Steyr, was completely aware of this.
The Austrians became crooks when the opposition took power in Bangkok. 176 shiny new fire trucks got stuck at customs. Because of unpaid import taxes. And it was “discovered” that the cars smaller, 65 pick-up trucks were produced by “Mitsubishi Motors Thailand.” What a surprise.
Steyr had paid Mitsubishi the equivalent of 14,000 euros for a single chassis. Exported to Europe, equipped with state-of-the-art gear and re-exported to Thailand the final price amounted to about 110,000 euros per unit. Included in this price were spare parts and a half-year training for 800 people.
The Austrians got finally paid for doing what they had to do: fulfilling their contract. While Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin has now been found guilty of wrongdoing for fulfilling Bangkok’s part of the deal: paying the bill; as per the buying contract signed by then-Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej.
Nobody to this day has any idea about actual corruption involved. But if you just shout loud enough and you got a scandal.
Are the fire trucks and boats actually in service?!
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