TOT wants state prosecutors' help to file lawsuit against officials
THE TOT board will ask the Office of Attorney-General to help it urgently file a lawsuit before the end of the month against the state agency's former top two officials, who were alleged by the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) of being involved
The board also asked TOT to consult the Attorney-General’s office on whether TOT should press for criminal or civil charges – or both – against TOT’s former president Sutham Malila and former vice president Olarn Pientham.
The board also asked TOT to ask the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to seek a clear and formal order from the Cabinet for TOT to seek compensation from AIS about the damage suffered by TOT because of the concession amendments.
The TOT board passed all these resolutions in the meeting late last week.
According to the NACC allegation, Sutham and Olarn were involved in changes to the AIS concession to allow AIS to “roam” with other operators’ networks and to be able to deduct roaming fees paid to such networks from calculation of the AIS concession fee payment. The amendment took place in 2002.
Sutham is also involved in the case of allowing TOT to lower its annual concession fee for AIS’s prepaid service from |25-35 per cent to a flat 20 per cent until the end of the concession this September 30. The amendment took place in May 2001.
The AIS concession amendments were among many cases cited by the Supreme Court in its 2010 ruling that found Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of abuse of power. AIS was founded by the Shinawatra family. TOT granted a 25-year concession to AIS in 1990.
The Cabinet last Tuesday gave approval for the ICT Ministry to urge TOT to proceed with the AIS case according to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Thaksin case.
