Fugitive former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame had evidence proving his innocence in the Khlong Dan wastewater treatment corruption case, but political influence prevented it being presented at his trial, according to former deputy finance minister Man Pattanothai.
Vatana had facts that the public never knew, and if the information had reached the justice system he would not be living life as a fugitive, said Mr Man, who is close to him.
"Mr Vatana would like Thailand to give him the chance to present the facts. No matter what the outcome, he would accept it," Mr Man said.
People wrongly believed that Vatana had been behind all corruption in the Khlong Dan wastewater treatment project, bought land for resale to the Pollution Control Department for the project and was a contractor, Mr Man said.
"The defence struggled under the influence of a big political party at that time, and thus documents could not reach court trials," Mr Man said.
Vatana's land acquisitions from 1988 to 1990 had not been planned for the resale to the Pollution Control Department because the department was established eight years after he had started the land acquisition, Mr Man said.
Vatana had nothing to do with the construction of the Khlong Dan wastewater treatment facility and was not a stakeholder in the payment of compensation in the project, Mr Man said.
He said that Vatana was ready to return to the justice system, and had trust in the system during the tenure of the Prayut Chan-o-cha government, which was free of political influence.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Thursday that he had no idea how Vatana's case could be revived because the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions had already closed it.
However, the government was ready to receive any new and useful information from Vatana, Mr Wissanu said.
The Finance Ministry would ask the Administrative Court to reopen another case concerning the Khlong Dan wastewater treatment project, but it was a different matter from the case of Vatana at the Supreme Court, Mr Wissanu said.
The government is trying to block the 9.86-billion-baht compensation that the Supreme Administrative Court ordered the Pollution Control Department, the wastewater treatment project owner, to pay its contractor, the NVPSKG joint venture, for scrapping the 20-billion-baht contract although most of the facility had been built in tambon Khlong Dan of Bang Bo district, Samut Prakan. The province was Vatana's political stronghold.
The project was revoked in 2003 by the Thaksin Shinawatra government, which uncovered corruption.
Vatana was found to be involved in the illegal acquisition of 1,900-rai of land in tambon Khlong Dan, which was sold to the project at a high price. He was convicted of acquiring some of the land by threatening the owners, and some of it was public land.
He jumped bail and fled before the Supreme Court sentenced him in 2008 to 10 years in prison.
The abandoned Khlong Dan wastewater treatment facility in Samut Prakan province (photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)