POLITICS
Oil giant faces call to return to state control
MANOP THIP-OSOD & YUTHANA PRAIWAN
Energy officials yesterday accused the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) of distorting the facts and defended the PTT Plc's privatisation, claiming it served to benefit the state. Thousands of PAD demonstrators rallied in front of the PTT head office yesterday, demanding the country's oil and gas conglomerate return to state ownership.
Protesters signed an exceptionally long banner calling for the PPP to return to state control and wrapped it around the PTT's fences on Vibhavadi Rangsit road during its three-hour-long rally.
As the number of demonstrators swelled, an inner lane of the highway had to be closed to traffic, causing heavy congestion. The rally was also attended by members of many state enterprise labour unions.
The PTT gates were ordered closed at around 8.30am after officers from Bang Sue police station and the Metropolitan Police Bureau's 2nd division secured its offices from the inside.
Protest leaders, including Sondhi Limthongkul, Pibhop Dhongchai, Somkiat Pongpaibul and Somsak Kosaisuk, lambasted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the PTT executives from aboard a campaign truck.
Mr Sondhi demanded PTT executives explain to the public why the company had given 49% of the 200 billion baht profit as dividend to private shareholders.
The country's top energy giant is 68% owned by the Finance Ministry. Of this stake 51.8% is held directly by the ministry and 16 % indirectly through the Vayupak Fund. The company was partially privatised and listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in October 2001. Mr Sondhi said the company's privatisation did not make any difference as its executives and staff were still the same old faces.
He alleged that the PTT agreed to cut oil prices only in keeping with the government's six measures to help the poor because the government had reduced excise tax for the company.
The burden will fall on the government who will now have to look for other sources of revenue to offset the excise tax shortfall, he said.
After the three-hour rally, the protesters returned to their original rally site at the Makkhawan Rangsan bridge.
Saran Rangkasiri, PTT executive vice president, defended the company's dividend payment, saying only 97 billion baht profit, not 200 billion baht as claimed by Mr Sondhi, was made.
He said it should not be forgotten that the PTT was also pumping in in terms of corporate tax and dividend payment nearly 60 billion baht a year into state coffers.
He said PTT was still a state-owned company with a 68% stake still in the hands of the Finance Ministry.
Pornchai Rujiprapha, the energy permanent secretary, said the PAD was sending the wrong message to the public and misleading the people by twisting the facts regarding the dividend payments and returns to the government. ''PTT would not be in a position to pay such high returns to the state had it still been a wholly-owned state enterprise,'' he said.
The company could afford to make such huge returns to the government because it had raised much-needed capital through the stock market for its business expansion, he said.
Mr Pornchai said the PTT was basically still a state enterprise since the Finance Ministry was its major shareholder, and most of its shareholders were Thai nationals.
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