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.
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