A House committee has expressed disapproval of Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) for not appearing at a meeting to answer questions related to blackchin tilapia, which the company imported for research in 2010.
CPF was invited to a subcommittee meeting to clarify a document the Department of Fisheries provided, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, a Move Forward Party MP for Bangkok and deputy chairman of the subcommittee probing the spread of the invasive species.
However, before yesterday's meeting, the company submitted a letter of absence to the secretary's office.
"I want the company to use the stage to communicate with the public as there is growing scepticism regarding the issue," said Mr Nattacha.
Asked about the next step, Mr Nattacha said the House committee would conclude based on information from officials, including the Fisheries Department and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
Next week, the Council of State will be invited to advise government agencies on potential lawsuits. Relevant agencies will also be asked to help assess ecological damage caused by the invasive species, which has adversely affected numerous farms.
Mr Nattacha added that the Fisheries Department indicated that the CPF, the sole company granted permission to import the species, violated the conditions of its permit sought in 2010.
CPF told the department that the fish had died within three weeks of being brought to Thailand. The company was then required to send 50 fish carcasses to the department's lab, but an investigation found no such samples.
"It is implausible that, of all 5,000 samples from 2007 to 2017 kept in the lab, only samples from 2011 would get lost during a flood," he said.
The deputy chairman said the subcommittee will submit evidence to relevant agencies for legal action.
CPF yesterday submitted a report to the Higher Education, Science and Innovation Committee explaining its procedure for importing 2,000 blackchin tilapia fingerlings from Ghana to Thailand.
According to Premsak Wanuchsoontorn, Executive Vice-President for Aquaculture Business at CPF, the fish arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport on Dec 22, 2010.
Many of the fish died during transportation, while the remaining 600 were in poor health. By Jan 6, 2011, only 50 fish remained alive, he said.
The CPF decided to terminate the project by killing all remaining fish with chlorine. Their remains were buried with lime on Jan 7.
Mr Premsak insisted that the CPF had not conducted any research related to fish since January 2011 and that it did not introduce the fish to Thai waterways.