REPRESENTATIVES of the People’s Network against Corruption have submitted a petition to the government seeking a probe into alleged irregularities in the handling of 10 idle Airbus A340-500 and A340-600 jetliners owned by national flag carrier Thai Airways International (THAI).

Captain Jothin Pamon-montri, a former executive vice president of THAI, and other members of the anti-graft network, urged Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to intervene, alleging lack of transparency in the purchase of these expensive jetliners back in 2002-03.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yesterday agreed to provide the NACC with information regarding their inquiry into the Rolls-Royce bribery scandal, during a teleconference between officials from the two anti-graft agencies yesterday evening that lasted about 40 minutes. NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljieak said the SFO asked its Thai counterpart to be specific about the information it wanted.

“The NACC will send our written request to the SFO soon,” he added.

According to Jothin, a 35-year veteran of THAI, all 10 Airbus jets were purchased at Bt5 billion to Bt6 billion each even though the National Economic and Social Development Board back then had urged the airline’s board of directors to review its purchase programme.

However, the then Cabinet eventually approved the purchase of these jets and THAI put them into service but faced huge operating losses of up to Bt5 billion per year on the routes using these jets.

As a result, the aircraft were removed from the airline’s fleet and parked idle for many years, waiting to be resold.

According to Jothin, the government should launch an investigation into the original purchase of these Airbus jets and the subsequent handling of the jets |after they were excluded from the airline’s fleet.

Jothin said there were buyers interested in these jets who were willing to pay around Bt760 million per jet, but the THAI board of directors did not approve the resale as they had been purchased at a unit price of as much as Bt5-6 billion.

Aircraft ‘idle’

At present, these aircraft remain idle at parking facilities at Don Mueang and U-tapao airports, Jothin said.

The People Network’s petition came hot on the heels of the Rolls-Royce bribery case in which the UK aircraft engine-maker told British authorities it had paid a combined US$38 million (Bt1.3 billion) in bribes to Thai officials to win lucrative engine orders for the THAI fleet of Boeing and Airbus jetliners between 1988 and 2006.

The allegations have prompted the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to seek more evidence from its UK and US counterparts in a bid to pursue legal actions against those who received the bribes.

Based on a document from the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, Rolls-Royce admitted in a settlement with UK authorities that it had made illegal payments to officials in Thailand, Indonesia, India and other countries in return for lucrative aircraft engine orders.

In the case of Thailand, alleged illegal payments were as much as 8 per cent for some of the engine orders based on the contract value and these funds were paid via agents in Thailand and the region for Boeing 777 and Airbus A340 aircraft.

According to the UK document, the THAI board of directors ordered five spare engines for its A340/T500 fleet and two spare engines for the Boeing 777/T800 fleet in the early 2000s.