Ruangkrai Leekijwattana, a member of Pheu Thai Party's legal affairs office, has asked Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to withdraw a privilege given to the War Veterans Organisation, warning that it could lead to damage and corruption.
In a letter submitted to the prime minister, he said a resolution passed by the cabinet under Gen Prayut gave WVO the privilege of being contracted to implement government projects involving construction of irrigation weirs and dredging of public canals, reservoirs and drainage systems.
Mr Ruangkrai said the Office of the Auditor General's website revealed that many government projects awarded to the WVO had not been completed as required by the terms of the contracts.
Ruangkrai Leekijwattana
They included 657 projects worth 1.8 billion baht of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, 180 projects worth 1.2 billion baht of the Royal Irrigation Department, five projects worth about 4 million baht for the Office of the Permanent Secretary for the Interior, and three projects worth 14 million baht of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, he said.
There were complaints about projects left unfinished by firms that were sub-contracted by the WVO to do the work because the organisation did not have the expertise or equipment to do the job itself, as was required by the cabinet resolution.
Mr Ruangkrai said he wanted a Finance Ministry committee to review the privilege granted to the WVO, which he said could cause further damage to government agencies and might open the way to demands for kickbacks and other corrupt practices.
The former senator said the resolution giving the privilege to the WVO was passed on July 15, 2014 by the Prayut cabinet, not the former Yingluck Shinawatra government.