A former director of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority has been sentenced to three years in prison for abuse of power to benefit a private company.
The section deals with abuse of power and dereliction of duty by those working in government agencies, which carries a penalty of 1-10 years. The case was brought by BMTA, the state-owned bus operator.
According to the ruling, the BMTA under Peerapong’s leadership signed a contract to rent a bus depot and parking space on 17 rai of land from Narin Land and House Co in tambon Praeksa of Muang district, Samut Prakan for five years in 1996.
The loss-ridden state enterprise was charged 1.02 million baht a month in the first three years and 1.12 million in the last two years.
The contract also required that the BMTA notify Narin Land and House of its decision whether to renew the contract within three months before the agreement expired. If it failed to do so, the contract would be renewed automatically for a year at a monthly rent of 700,000 baht, totalling 8.4 million.
A BMTA committee decided at a meeting that the agency would negotiate with the company for cheaper rent rates or terminate the contract if the request was rejected.
However, Peerapong, who was present at the meeting, failed to act accordingly. As a result, the contract was renewed automatically, resulting in the BMTA being charged by the company for an extra year.
The court found Peerapong did not take any action even after the contract had expired for 10 days and the company had agreed to lease smaller space based on the BMTA’s actual need for another three years, an option much cheaper than the one-year automatic contract renewal.
Three months before the five-year deal expired, Peerapong also received several internal letters urging him to decide on the issue urgently from his deputy, legal department and a committee vetting the bus depot rent.
The court ruled Peerapong’s inaction was intended to benefit the privately owned company and handed him a three-year sentence without suspension.
Siri Suwattananon, Peerapong’s lawyer, has placed 300,000 baht as bail surety for his client and planned to appeal against the Criminal Court’s decision.
He said the ex-BMTA chief has been detained at Bangkok Remand Prison as the Appeals Court’s bail decision might be delayed until Friday.