POLITICS
City Hall's drainage and sewerage department chief Charnchai Withoonpanyakit yesterday denied accepting a slice of the 125-million-baht bribe a Japanese firm said it paid to Thai officials to win a bid for a drainage tunnel project five years ago. Mr Charnchai, whose office was responsible for the project, claimed that instead of taking the bribe he had negotiated with the consortium for a discount, even though its bidding price was already below the median price.
In 2003, the Japan-based Nishimatsu Construction put in a tender for a project to lay a 2.09-billion-baht tunnel stretching from Lat Phrao to the Saen Saep canal through its consortium with Italian-Thai Development Plc.
The project was completed last year.
The Japan Times and Japan Today newspapers reported last Monday that an executive of the firm admitted to Japanese prosecutors that the company had given a bribe of more than 400 million yen (125 million baht) to ''Thai officials'' to win the project in Bangkok.
This took place at the time when Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej worked as Bangkok governor.
Mr Charnchai said he had nothing to do with the alleged fixing of the specifications.
The specifications were changed from two 2.5m-diameter pipelines to one 5m-diameter pipeline by his deputy, Theeradet Tangpraprutgul, he said.
He said he would hand all the files about the project to the city clerk, as ordered.
There was no reaction from Mr Samak when the Japanese press broke the story on their websites.
People Power party executive Suthin Khlangsaeng said: ''Mr Samak told party executives at a meeting on Wednesday that he only heard about Nishimatsu Co for the first time when it made headlines.''
Democrat MP Charnchai Isarasenarak, who is vice-chairman of the House committee on the suppression of corruption, said officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration would be invited to give their explanations on Wednesday.
''The panel will invite Bangkok governor [Apirak Kosayodhin] and former governor [Mr Samak] to give their explanations, only if the officers involved in the project refer to them,'' he said.
He said the panel had asked him to compile and request information from Japan about the matter, and an overseas trip might be needed.
He said he would ask the panel to allow him to travel to Japan to collect the information himself so the probe could be wrapped up in a month and forwarded to the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC).
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