THAI staff demand S44 graft probe

A group of THAI employees have called on PM Prayut Chan-o-cha to exercise his power under Section 44 to probe the national carrier's procurement contracts to see if any were tainted by graft. About 200 members of the so-called THAI Employees Fighting Corruption group gathered at the airline's operations building to demand the probe be formed by invoking Section 44 of the interim charter. Nares Puengyam, the group's representative, said Section 44 would enable the premier to set up a special committee to investigate all procurement contracts secured by the airline for any irregularities. Any such irregularities would constitute policy-oriented corruption, which must be dealt with, according to the group. The move follows a scandal in which Rolls-Royce admitted to paying bribes to Thai agents or officials to sell engines to THAI between 1991 and 2005. Nares said the airline decided to lower the age of its fleet, forcing the carrier to acquire up to 75 new aircraft valued at over 400 billion baht in two lots between 2011 and 2022. <br/>