PostBag
With respect to the article "NCCC may file Thaksin cases itself" (BP, July 7) I would like to clarify that Invision Technologies - whose proper name is GE Invision, Inc and is part of General Electric - paid the US Securities Exchange Commission US$1.1 million as settlement for violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, pursuant to Litigation Release No. 19078 on Feb 14, 2005.
In both a federal court complaint and an administrative order, the SEC charged that from at least June 2002 through June 2004, InVision employees, sales agents and distributors pursued transactions to sell explosive detection machines to airports in China, the Philippines and Thailand. The SEC's administrative order finds that InVision violated the anti-bribery, books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA (respectively, Sections 30A, 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).
Without admitting or denying liability or the SEC's findings, InVision agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest, cease and desist from violations of the FCPA, and comply with its undertakings to retain an independent consultant to ensure that InVision adheres to a corporate compliance programme designed to detect and prevent violations of the FCPA.
In the district court action, which alleges the same violations, InVision agreed to settle the charges, without admitting or denying liability, and pay a civil penalty.
I understand that this may not serve as admissible evidence of fault in a Thai court, but it does constitute significant circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing.
FARANG LAWYER
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Take the cash and walk
Re: "Japan firm accused of bribing Bangkok officials" (BP, July 8). Whoever took the money need not worry. For the culprits the worst thing that can happen is that the matter is handed over to the Thai police for investigation. We all know from experience that this equals end of story, case closed due to lack of evidence.
The tale about the Bangkok film festival, where people were jailed in the United States for paying bribes to a named Thai official, with evidence of the official's guilt and trace of money delivered on a silver plate by the FBI, is solid proof of that.
Thai police are obviously not capable of finding an elephant in a phone booth, and even less able to gather evidence that it's actually there. And since real journalists - who follow up on cases and don't rest until they are fully investigated and solved - are an unknown factor in Thailand, the culprits do not have to worry, they'll all walk free.
JAN DEBEL
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THAI clarifies ad
This is in reference to the letters "Not as advertised" (Postbag, July 4) and "THAI ad misleading" (Postbag, July 5) regarding Thai Airways International's "Buy 1, Fly 2" promotional campaign. Passengers who purchase this promotion are able to buy one international ticket from Bangkok to destinations in Europe, Asia, South Africa or New Zealand between June 25 and Sept 30, 2008 and receive a free second ticket for the same class of travel, based on the promotional conditions.
THAI would like to clarify that the ticket price referred to in THAI's ad was based on full fare for the first ticket, with the second ticket being free. It is further clarified that this promotional fare should not be mistaken with that of market discount fares, since based on this campaign customers participating in THAI's "Buy 1, Fly 2" promotion will find that each purchased ticket is actually priced lower than market fare.
In addition, when buying THAI's "Buy 1, Fly 2" promotion, passenger travel has reservation priority, which is better than market fare tickets at this time. Furthermore, both tickets are able to accumulate full mileage on the frequent flyer programme Royal Orchid Plus, which makes it even more beneficial to customers who opt to take advantage of this special deal.
It is THAI's hope that this clarifies the advantages of the "Buy 1, Fly 2" promotion, and interested passengers may contact the THAI Contact Centre at 02-356-1111, visit their nearest travel agent, or by accessing the website http://www.thaiairways.co.th.
M L AJCHARAPORN NA SONGKHLA
Director, Corporate Communications Department
Thai Airways International
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Better safe than sorry
In spite of Cha-am Jamal's jibes (Postbag, July 7), Al Gore's position on global warming does have the support of the vast majority of professional climatologists and scientists in related areas. Whilst the history of science has a few examples of a talented amateur proving the experts wrong, the complexity of the subject in question would suggest that this would not be a good bet here.
In any case, it would seem prudent for us to embrace the mainstream academic view, if for no better reason than the relative consequences of being wrong. If we make efforts to reduce our carbon emissions in line with Kyoto and the experts are proved wrong, the worst outcome is that we have caused some slowdown in world economic growth for no good ecological reason. However, if we ignore Kyoto and continue to pollute our environment and Jamal is wrong, we may be on our way to an irrecoverable ecological disaster.
C O JONES
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Fax: +02 2403666, email: postbag@bangkokpost.co.th
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