The Royal Thai Army has denied allegations made by an opposition party in parliament that the force bought mess trays at inflated prices.
The allegation was levelled by the People's Party (PP) during the scrutiny phase of the national budget expenditure bill earlier this week.
Yellow-clad Bhumjaithai Party MPs gesture during a parliamentary session on next fiscal year's budget yesterday. (Photos: Nutthawat Wichieanbut)
The party accused the army of spending an unusually high amount of its budget to buy about 10,000 mess trays above the average market price.
Col Richa Suksuwanon, a deputy spokesman for the army, yesterday said the food trays purchased in a procurement project using the fiscal year 2024 budget were made of SUS 304 food-grade stainless steel, about 0.8 millimetres thick.
The trays are durable for use over a long period, he said, adding each is used three times a day every day.
The lowest price quoted by the winning firm in an e-bidding process was 520 baht apiece, he said.
The winning price was almost on par with how much two leading kitchenware makers, Zebra and Seagull, charge for similar trays at a discount, according to the deputy spokesman.
Zebra's standard price for a similar food tray is 650 baht apiece, whereas the company's promotional price is 515 baht, he said. With Seagull, the standard price for a similar tray is 619 baht, while the discounted price is 520 baht, he said.
Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, a PP list MP, claimed during Tuesday's debate that the army could have opted for trays that were available for a retail price of 360–380 baht apiece.
Col Richa refuted the claim, saying such prices were for trays made of lower-grade stainless steel only 0.5mm in thickness.
Such trays made of thinner material are not safe for use as food containers or durable enough over an extended period, he said.
Mr Wiroj, who has been critical of defence budget spending, insisted the cost of the mess trays alone justified trimming the next fiscal year's defence budget by 1.5 million baht. The next fiscal year begins next month.
According to the MP, the company that won the bid to supply food trays to the army may not hold a licence to produce stainless steel kitchenware.
He had reason to believe the bid winner may have sourced the trays from an established kitchenware manufacturer and sold them to the army.