The secretary-general of the government sector’s Anti-Corruption Committee, Prayong Preeyachit, was quoted to have said, sarcastically, that the 50 or so futsal courts built in Nakhon Ratchasima with funding from the Office of the Basic Education Committee were not built for the purpose of sports competitions, training or development but for the sole purpose of supporting the sale of synthetic materials used to surface the courts by the company involved in the project.
He was only partially right because his words were an understatement.
It appears that everyone involved in this shameless project — from the politicians who initiated it, the officials responsible for the bid to choose the contractor to build the futsal courts, down to the officials who accepted the courts from the contractor — had no intention whatsoever to promote futsal among Thai youths or to encourage them to exercise by playing the game.
It seems all they cared about was how to enrich themselves by stealing from the state.
The whole project, which cost 689 million baht to build 101 futsal courts in 11 provinces, was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Findings from the initial field inspection by the Anti-Corruption Committee of futsal courts in Nakhon Ratchasima are shocking. The extent of corruption in this wasteful project is also shocking.
Of the 39 courts inspected, none of them are in working condition.
On several courts, the synthetic rubber used to surface the concrete floor has peeled off or cracked after exposure to sunlight because the materials used were substandard.
Nakhon Ratchasima was chosen as the first target of the investigation after residents complained to the army.
They could not tolerate the plunder of taxpayers’ money right before their eyes.
Also, the province was given the lion’s share of the budget: 175 million baht out of a total of 689 million baht to build 50 futsal courts for reasons yet to be explained.
Four organisations are now involved in the investigation of the futsal scandal on the orders of the Justice Ministry.
These include the Anti-Corruption Committee which is the lead investigator, the National Audit Office, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Department of Special Investigation.
That is not good enough if the intention of this probe is to expose all the players involved in the scandal, especially the politicians who initiated the project and who may have profited from it.
With the politicians left untouched, the whole investigation will be a farce and pointless.
The budget for the futsal project was part of the 3,947 million baht originally allocated by the former Yingluck government to the Office of the Basic Education Committee for repairs and renovation of 358 schools in 17 provinces damaged by the 2011 floods.
Yet during the parliamentary scrutiny period, MPs managed to divert 689 million baht from the fund for the construction of the futsal courts in 101 schools, mostly in the Northeast.
So why the diversion of the budget in the first place? The MPs who initiated the project and who approved it owe taxpayers a clarification.
Although the amount of budget wasted on this project is just chicken feed compared to corruption in megaprojects or with the massive losses incurred from the rice-pledging scheme, the futsal scandal represents a test case for the National Council for Peace and Order and the government.
How they respond to the findings will show whether they are serious about getting rid of corruption in the state sector.