A foreign firm used fake certificates of the British and Dutch defence ministries in persuading Thailand to buy its GT200 and Alpha 6 bomb detectors, which have finally turned out to be fakes.
Thailand has been invited to send its representatives to testify in a British court as being among the victims of Comstrac Co Ltd. “Britain’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency [SOCA] has already confirmed to us that the certificates guaranteeing the quality of the devices is forged,” Pol Lt-Colonel Pong-in Intornkao said yesterday, in his capacity as director of the Department of Special Investigation’s (DSI) Security Crime Bureau.
As many as 13 Thai state agencies bought the GT200 and Alpha 6 devices from Comstrac at a combined budget of well over Bt400 million. On Tuesday, James McCormick, the firm’s 56-year-old owner was convicted in London of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other countries. He has told the court he had also sold the detectors to the Egyptian army, Kenyan police, Hong Kong’s prison service and Thai border control. The detectors were marketed to governments around the world through glossy brochures and the Internet.
Advertising material showed the devices being used to find explosives, drugs, ivory and people.
DSI has now been investigating Thai agencies’ purchases of the GT200 and Alpha 6 devices in close collaboration with SOCA.
“We have already requested a list of witnesses from the British agency,” Pong-in said yesterday, “We may also ask for the delivery of evidence in the future.”
An informed source said the DSI investigation had suggested there was fraud, document forgery, bidding collusion and overpricing in the purchases of the GT200 and Alpha 6 devices by Thai authorities.
“We have looked into the financial transactions of where the money went. Most of the profits went to Comstrac in England. Its authorised distributors here have been paid commissions. The distributors are two Thai firms that have continued to supply many other devices to government agencies,” Pongin said.
He said the DSI hoped all government agencies in Thailand would learn a lesson from the GT200/Alpha 6 hoaxes.
“Any procurement of expensive electronic and special devices should involve strict quality checks. Examination by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre and the Electrical and Electronic Product Testing Centre should be a prerequisite prior to procurement approval,” Pong-in said.
He said the DSI’s ongoing investigation had found that when the manufacturer of the GT200 and Alpha 6 devices was about to deliver its products, it prepared its own explosive-ordnance disposal team for the quality checks.
“This suggests the manufacturer had known from the very beginning that its devices were ineffective – but sold them with false claims,” he said.
He said the DSI had already forwarded a case related to the GT200/Alpha 6 device purchases to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NAAC).
An NAAC subcommittee, chaired by Vichai Vivitasevi, has already interrogated more than half the witnesses in the case.
“Within two months, we should know who should be charged,” he said.
The NAAC subcommittee has no plan to seek evidence or documents from Britain. “The court verdict should suffice,” Vichai said.
Reference : PIYANUT TUMNUKASETCHAI. QUALITY CERTIFICATES USED BY FIRM WERE FAKE UK invites Thai team to testify as victim in Gt200, Alpha 6 scam. The Nation. ฉบับวันที่ 25 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2556.– ( 89 Views)
