15 face legal action over Klong Dan losses

The Nation 27 November 2014

FIFTEEN people including two national politicians will be sued for huge damages caused by the corruption-plagued Klong Dan wastewater treatment project.

The Pollution Control Department (PCD) will take legal action against the 15 – two national politicians, three local politicians and 10 civil servants – at the suggestion of the Finance Ministry’s Comptroller General Department, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Last week, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered the department to pay Bt9.6 billion in compensation to the joint venture that built the plant before it was scrapped.

The Comptroller General has estimated that Vatana Asavahame, the former deputy interior minister accused of dealing with the project dishonestly, should be responsible for Bt4.5 billion in losses, plus US$36.4 million, the source said. Vatana is believed to have fled the country.

The Klong Dan project was partly funded by loans in US dollars borrowed from the Asian Development Bank.

The late former science minister Yingphan Manasikarn also was found to be responsible for damages of Bt3.8 billion, plus $30.3 million, the source said. Yingphan died in 2002 at the age of 65.

Civil servants deemed responsible include former PCD chief Pakit Kirawanit, his ex-deputy and another senior official who will be sued for Bt1.04 billion, the source said.