One of the worst and most costly fraud cases in recent memory was wrongly declared over last week. The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) brought its investigation of the purchase of Alpha-6 fake narcotics detectors to a close. Astoundingly, this relatively simple case took the self-styled graft busters 10 years to conclude. The announcement that formally closed the books on the case echoed the supreme failure to tackle the case forthrightly, investigate honestly, act transparently and, finally, identify and bring accountability and the law to bear on those responsible.
The winding up the Alpha-6 investigation was little more than farce. According to the final report, three previously obscure officials in the office of the Phitsanulok governor were responsible for the fraud and its fallout. They had been assigned to buy Alpha-6 "narcotics detectors" in 2008. According to the hugely flawed NACC probe, the three members are responsible for an inflated price quote and for purchasing without the correct paperwork.
In fact, everything about the "drug detectors" was a scam. British con men convinced Thai officials, including some at the very highest positions, that empty plastic boxes with an aerial could not just detect illicit drugs but tell the operator what sort of drugs were involved. In the end, the interior ministry, police and others handed 350 million baht to the scammers in return for 493 of the worthless boxes. Far from the NACC claim that the probably bewildered Phitsanulok province officials paid inflated prices, the truth is that the whole consignment wasn't worth one baht.
A similar con game was worked on the armed forces. The scammers convinced, among others, then-army commander Gen Anupong Paojinda -- now Minister of Interior -- that different plastic "black boxes" could magically detect explosives. In addition to costs of more than one billion baht, this huge error on the purchase of GT-200 "bomb detectors" by the armed forces, including current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, cost more than treasure. It cost lives.
Soldiers in the deep South were ordered to get rid of drug-sniffing dogs and to stop using their intuition to intercept explosives and would-be bombers. Commanders put full faith in the GT-200 fake detectors. There were deaths and injuries caused by false-negative readings -- when the GT-200 wrongly stated the inspected area was clear of explosives when it was not.
Astoundingly, men at the very top of the military, police and anti-drug units continued to use the fake detectors long after Thai and foreign scientists proved beyond doubt they were fake. In an infamous 2012 test, this newspaper's military reporter guessed more containers with real explosives than the so-called bomb detector. Still, then-army chief Gen Prayut, with no evidence whatsoever, told the media, "I affirm that the device is still effective." The GT-200, he said correctly and tragically, was also being used by other countries.
NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon said last week that the commission has filed criminal charges against the three hapless Phitsanulok officials. This is a total failure of its mission by the NACC. For 10 years until now, it has refused to investigate rumours, evidence and indications that the real corruption in the Alpha-6 case extended far up the chain in the Thaksin Shinawatra government and the 2006-2007 military regime. The same is true, in spades, for the GT-200 fraud.
The disappointing and unsatisfactory outcome of this astoundingly long investigation shows up the enormous failings of the anti-graft commission. An outgrowth of the action-packed 1997 "people's constitution", the NACC is supposed to be an aggressive, independent protector of the Thai people against criminal or incompetent conduct by officials, no matter how high-ranking. There are so many indications of massive graft in the Alpha-6 and GT-200 scams that it is a wonder the NACC found ways to pretend to ignore them.