Bangkok governor resigns over Austrian fire truck case

Bangkok - Bangkok Governor Apirak Kasayodhin on Wednesday announced his resignation after being indicted by the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) of wrongdoing in the purchase of fire trucks and boats from Austria more than four years ago. 'I have decided to resign as Governor of Bangkok,' Apirak told a press conference at the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA). 'But in order to have the least impact I will postpone my resignation until November 19,' said Apirak. The BMA is partly responsible for organizing the royal cremation ceremony of Princess Galyani Vadhana which starts on Friday and lasts over the weekend. In the past, the opposition Democrat Party have repeatedly called on government ministers to resign to accept responsibility when facing similar accusations of corruption. 'I am ready to fight the case in the justice system,' said Aprirak. A new gubernatorial election must be held within 60 days, according to election rules. Apirak won about 1 million votes in the October 4 election, almost twice as many as his closest contender. On Tuesday Thailand's National Counter Corruption Commission found Apirak, who is serving his second term as Bangkok governor, guilty of involvement in 'irregularities' in the 6.7-billion-baht (197 million dollar) purchase of fire trucks and fire boats from Austrian firm Steyr Daimler Puch Spezialfahrzeuge GmbH. The dubious deal was rushed through by Apirak's predecessor Samak Sundaravej in 2004, on the final day of Samak's governorship. Samak went on to become prime minister after the December 2007 general elections but was then sacked on September 9 for violating the constitution by moonlighting as a TV cooking show host. Samak and several other former ministers have also been indicted by the NCCC for involvement in the fire truck case. Apirak was accused of 'irregularities' for ordering Krung Thai Bank to issue a letter-of-credit to purchase overpriced fire engines from Steyr. Apirak said earlier he was forced by the contract to open a letter of credit for the purchase, even though he had repeatedly resisted it due to the alleged irregularities. The firefighting equipment was deemed overpriced.