The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) has pledged it will appeal against a Central Administrative Court order forcing it to pay more than 1.1 billion baht to the Bestlin Group and its allies for unlawfully terminating a procurement contract for 489 new gas-fuelled buses after Songkran.
The authority's deputy director for bus operations Prayoon Choygeo said Wednesday its legal department is drafting a strategy for filing the appeal. It must be filed within 30 days of the court ruling. Read on Tuesday, the ruling stated the BMTA had unlawfully refused to inspect 390 buses delivered by Bestlin as part of a 3.3-billion-baht procurement contract for 489 natural gas vehicle (NGV) buses. The company had originally won the contract in an auction in September 2016.
While the first 99 buses were cleared by the BMTA, the remaining 390 were left unchecked after the Customs Department suspected Bestlin of making it look like its buses were manufactured in Malaysia to take advantage of an Asean free trade agreement-based tax exemption.
The BMTA blacklisted Bestlin after customs suspected the buses were actually built in China and seized them. It scrapped the 3.3-billion-baht contract last April, claiming Bestlin did not deliver the buses on time. It claimed it could not check the buses because the Office of the Attorney-General asked it to wait until customs' investigations into the origins of the buses was complete. Although the 390 buses were initially released from customs last January after Bestlin and its allies placed collateral worth 40% of the contract's value, the BMTA denied ownership of the new buses. It also denied ownership and refused to check the buses after Bestlin tried to register 292 buses with the Department of Land Transport in the BMTA's name the same month.
The ruling said the buses' source of assembly was not essential to the fulfillment of the contract. It also cited inconsistencies in the BMTA's claims, stating the authority had already agreed with Bestlin that the 489 buses could be gradually delivered in lots at a time. The ruling stated the authority must pay Bestlin and its allies a total of 1.16 billion baht in damages and overdue delivery fees, with a 7.5% interest rate starting from the day Bestlin filed suit last June until payment is complete.
Meanwhile, Cho Thavee Plc CEO Suradech Taweesaengsakulthai has also said he will file an appeal against the ruling, which additionally specified the current procurement deal for 489 new NGV buses could be suspended indefinitely. In addition to the fees, the court also granted an injunction order against the new contract, which was won by a joint venture between Cho Thavee and Scan Inter Plc, now worth 4.22 billion baht.
The new contract was won by the joint venture last December. The injunction request was filed by Siam Standard Energy Co, one of the auction's bidders, who said the auction was won unlawfully. "We will submit an appeal," Mr Suradech said. "Assembly and delivery of the buses will also commence as usual in the meantime, to fulfill the contract's deadline in June."