The scandal of GT 200 has come back to haunt the Thai military again after a British court ordered a Briton serving a 10-year jail term for making bogus bomb detectors to forfeit cash and assets worth nearly £8 million, some of which should be paid in compensation to countries that bought the fake devices, including Bahrain, Lebanon, Niger and Georgia.
The order by Judge Richard Hone QC to James McCormick to release his cash, properties and a luxury boat to pay for lives that might have been lost from his fake devices has given a shot in the arm to the Thai media and anti-military activists, especially the Pheu Thai Party.
The news report, presented by the BBC, has caught several ruling generals off guard, baffling and angering them. Most are reluctant to answer the media's questions.
Nopporn Wong-Anan is deputy editor, Bangkok Post.
Hence, the scandal is a litmus test for the members of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), that ousted the elected civilian government on the pretext of rampant corruption, to prove how committed they are to fighting graft and making the military institution transparent in its procurement.
The UK court order came just a few days after Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister and the NCPO's "Big Brother", chaired a signing ceremony between the armed forces and agencies under the Ministry of Defence and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), pledging to perform their duties with transparency and make the military a corruption-free institution.
They joined more than 100 government agencies that have signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NACC. Another 65 agencies, including police agencies, are expected to join later this year.
The MoU will take effect with new procurements, as previous purchases of the dubious devices, made between 2006 and 2010, puzzled bomb experts and led to suspicions over the decision to buy such costly, unproven machines.
Critics say the failure of the devices to do as promised has caused deaths and injuries, while false alarms sounded by the detectors led security officers to put innocent people in jail on suspicion of planting bombs.
A range of Thai agencies from the armed forces and police to customs and provincial authorities spent nearly 1.4 billion baht on 1,358 detection devices. The army alone purchased more than 700 units, most of which were used in the restive deep South.
According to Isra News Agency, an investigative journalism website, at least seven security-related agencies signed a total of 19 contracts between 2007 and 2010 to procure GT200 units.
After the scandal reemerged, Pheu Thai wasted no time to rub salt into the wounds of the junta. Its acting deputy spokesman, Anusorn Iamsa-ard, on Saturday suggested the NCPO and the government set up a panel to investigate the purchase of the bomb detectors.
Mr Anusorn said the investigation should examine how many government agencies had deployed the devices and whether military officers in the current government were involved with the procurement.
Also, it should be checked which state agencies acquired the overpriced detectors, each costing several hundred thousand baht, which caused massive damage to the country, according to Mr Anusorn.
Shooting down the call, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday hit back at Pheu Thai, saying it is the government which is the damaged party and the notion of any state agency being subject to an inquiry may not be reasonable.
"What did the court say? The ruling is against the seller and the manufacturer, right? The court ordered compensation for the buyers, didn't they?" he said, adding the GT200 units have not been put to use after their effectiveness was questioned.
Also on Tuesday, Gen Prawit defended the army's procurement of the bomb detectors, saying the purchase scheme was transparent and in line with regulations.
Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda, who was the army chief from 2007 to 2010, declined to answer reporters' questions whether the device worked as claimed by suppliers, saying his answer would jeopardise ongoing probes by several agencies.
Investigators include the Office of the Auditor-General, whose chief Pisit Leelavachiropas said he has instructed authorities to probe the purchases of the bogus devices and determine if any irregularities were at play.
Mr Pisit described the issue as a case of national fraud and said the Thai distributors will face criminal investigations if the findings indicate they were part of the scam.
According to Isra, the NACC has been probing 12 cases regarding the overpriced purchases of bomb and drug detectors, involving commissioned soldiers from captains to four two-star generals and the former head of a drug suppression agency.
This is not only a national fraud, but a global scam too.
McCormick, the seller, is thought to have made £50 million from sales of the fake devices -- his trial heard of one invoice showing sales of £38 million over three years in Iraq alone, according to the BBC.
McCormick would buy novelty "golf ball detectors", which indeed were radio aerials, from the United States for less than US$20 (about 704 baht) each, before selling them as bomb detectors for $5,000 each, his trial heard.
The price paid by Thai agencies varied from 420,000 baht to 1.3 million baht each, depending on its "add-on features" such as detecting bombs or drugs.
As Judge Hone told McCormick during the trial: "the device was useless, the profit outrageous, and your culpability as a fraudster has to be considered to be of the highest order", the NCPO must not let the local suppliers of the bogus device and the officials involved get away with their crime.
Will battle brotherhood and comradeship take precedent over the ruling generals' commitment to eradicating corruption?