Flood spending under fire | Bangkok Post: learning

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The government came under heavy fire over alleged irregularities in the spending of its 120-billion-baht flood rehabilitation and prevention budget during the last day of the censure debate yesterday.

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Many billions of baht have been spent of flood relief and rehabilitation,not all of it wisely. Far too much money, say the Democrats, has been lost to corruption. SUNTHORN PONGPAO

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Flood spending under fire

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The government came under heavy fire over alleged irregularities in the spending of its 120-billion-baht flood rehabilitation and prevention budget during the last day of the censure debate yesterday.

Leading the debate on the issue, Democrat MP for Phatthalung Nipit Intarasombat claimed "commissions" of 30% of project values were collected during the bidding for procurement of flood rehabilitation and prevention schemes.

He said the commission had been pocketed by a woman named "Jeh Daeng" and "a white-haired man" who once worked at the Interior Ministry, but he did not elaborate on the actual identities of the two people.

Mr Nipit said he had checked the spending of the central budget to restore and preserve water sources in Khon Kaen by the Water Resources Department and found some irregularities in 20 contracts worth more than 59 million baht.

He discovered that the digging  of wells, which are part of the contracts, were not carried out, he said.

Mr Nipit said that 2.56 billion baht had been spent on developing water sources in six provinces in the Northeast and irregularities had been found in projects worth at least 1 billion baht.

He said there are more than 900 such contracts nationwide and he claimed that 30% of the value of all projects, or at least 30 billion baht, had been pocketed by Jeh Daeng and the white-haired man.

Democrat list-MP Nipon Boonyamanee then took the floor and said a private company was awarded 43 flood rehabilitation projects.

Pitpibul Co was registered with the Water Resources Department on Jan 27 and is allowed to receive contracts worth no more than 50 million baht.

However, the company won the 43 projects worth more than 100 million baht in the Northeast despite the fact that the company had a registered capital of only 1 million baht, Mr Nipon said.

One of the company's registrants has a surname of Sittipunt and it was found that she is related to Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan, Mr Nipon said.

But Mr Chatchart yesterday denied any involvement with Pitpibul.

Democrat MP Nipon said the company was owned by Nilrat Sittipunt, who claimed to be a relative to Mr Chatchart.

The minister dismissed Mr Nipon's allegation, saying the woman's family name was pronounced similarly to his, but is spelled differently.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk said if any irregularities were found in the water resources development projects in Khon Kaen, the government was ready to take action against those involved.

Mr Preecha said he had set up a committee to investigate the matter.

He said Pitpibul was a registered company entitled to enter the bidding.

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relief – money, food, medicine etc. that is given to help people in places where there has been a natural disaster, war, etc. เครื่องบรรเทาสาธารณภัย
rehabilitation – making a system, building, etc., suitable for use again, i.e., bringing it back to a good condition การฟื้นฟูสภาพกิจการ
under fire – being criticised strongly ถูกวิจารณ์, โดนว่า
alleged – claimed to be true although not yet proven ที่ถูกกล่าวหา
irregularity – a situation in which the rules, laws, or usual ways of doing things have not been followed การปฏิบัติที่ไม่เป็นไปตามระเบียบปกติ
budget – an amount of money able to be spent on something งบประมาณ
censure – to express strong criticism or disapproval  ตำหนิ, ติเตียน
censure debate – formally criticising a cabinet minister or the full cabinet in a parliamentary session after which members vote to support or reject the การอภิปรายไม่ไว้วางใจ
issue – a subject that people discuss or argue about ประเด็น
claim – to say that something is true although it has not been proved and other people may not believe it อ้าง
commission – an amount of money that is paid to somebody for selling goods and which increases with the amount of goods that are sold ค่านายหน้า, ค่าคอมมิชชั่น
bidding – offering to buy/sell something at a specific price การยื่นเสนอราคา
procurement – the process of buying supplies or equipment for a government department or company การจัดซื้อวัสดุ เครื่องมือสำหรับบริษัท หรือหน่วยงานของรัฐ
scheme – a plan that is developed by a government or large organisation in order to provide a particular service for people  แผนการ โครงการ
pocket – to take or keep something, especially an amount of money, that does not or should not belong to you เก็บเข้ากระเป๋า
elaborate – to add more information to or explain something that you have said อธิบายเพิ่มเติม
identity – who or what somebody/something is  ชื่อ เอกลักษณ์
restore – to cause a particular situation to exist again, especially a good one ฟื้นฟูสภาพ
preserve – to keep something as it is, especially in order to prevent it from being damaged or destroyed ทำให้คงอยู่, สงวน
source – the place something comes from or starts at, or the cause of something แหล่งกำเนิด
well – a deep hole in the ground from which people obtain water บ่อน้ำ
nationwide – throughout a whole country  ทั่วทั้งประเทศ
take the floor – to prepare to speak to a meeting
award – to officially give someone a contract ได้รับ
register – to put your name and other information on an official list in order to be allowed to do something, e.g., vote, study, stay in a hotel etc ลงทะเบียน
registered capital – the total of the share capital which a limited company is allowed to issue to its shareholders ทุนจดทะเบียน
surname – a name shared by all the members of a family (written last in English names) นามสกุล
deny – to say that something is not true ปฏิเสธ
involvement – the act or process of taking part in something การเกี่ยวข้อง
relative – a member of your family ญาติพี่น้อง
dismiss – to refuse to accept that something might be true or important ไม่สนใจ,แย้งกลับ
investigate – to try to find out the facts about something in order to learn the truth about it ตรวจสอบหาความจริง
entitled – having the right to have or do something  มีสิทธิโดยชอบ

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