Authorities are waiting for answers from the maker of the jet fighter, the aerospace company Saab, which has received the aircraft’s crash survivable memory unit (CSMU), more commonly referred to as the “black box” that records flight data in the event of a crash.

Saab received the CSMU days after the crash that killed Squadron Leader Dilokrit Pattawee on Children’s Day.

The investigation is expected to take about two months based on the analysis of the pre-crash condition of the aircraft, flying conditions at the time of the accident, and relevant issues regarding the pilot and management.

The plane that crashed – one of Thailand’s 12 JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets composing Wing 7 in Surat Thani province – was not among three jets struck by lightning during their 2013 transport to Thailand.

After a temporary suspension following the crash, the remaining 11 jets of the Gripen squadron successfully performed an operation over the Gulf of Thailand on Thursday, which authorities said indicated that the loss of one of the jets had not dented the fleet’s operational abilities.

The Air Force plans to field a total force |of 18 Gripen jets. The first 12 were bought for Bt34.4 billion while Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk was the Air Force’s commander-in-chief.

The purchase came with an agreement that Sweden would provide aid, training and maintenance in relation to the jets, but as potential war-fighting aircraft, they were not insured.

The Gripen fighter jet was manufactured to replace the J35 Darken and AJS 37 Viggen fighter jets utilised by the Swedish air force. It was unveiled on April 26, 1987, which coincided with Saab’s 50th anniversary, and tested on December 9, 1988.

The jets were commissioned by the Swedish Air Force in 1997.

Being a 4.5 Generation Fighter, the light, single-engine, multi-role fighter aircraft has a command and control system and is compatible with various weapon systems, meaning it has the potential to be further developed and upgraded.

The aircraft can take off on an 800-metre runway and land on a 500-metre section of highway, while requiring only a five-member ground-support team.

In performing group tasks, squadrons can partially avoid detection by using one jet’s radar to send target information to group members to attack the target. The aircraft has a stealth system reportedly similar to that of the US F-22 fighter jet.

“It’s likely they accepted bribes,” he said, but the Office of the Auditor General would not identify them now.

Pisit said they were waiting for details requested from anti-corruption authorities in the US and UK.

The auditor general also said he the National Anti-Corruption Centre, which his agency is part of, would convene soon to discuss cooperation in regard to the bribery scandal.

The national flag carrier Thai Airways International (THAI) and energy giant PTT have been linked to bribes from the British company.

Inquiries by the United Kingdom’s anti-corruption authorities found that Rolls-Royce paid bribes to employees of those state firms as well as politicians in power on many occasions between 1991 and 2013 in exchange for lucrative purchase deals.

Rolls-Royce executives admitted to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that the company had paid Bt1.2 billion in bribes to THAI officials between 1991 and 2005, and Bt385 million to PTT officials between 2000 and 2013.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will not invoke special powers under the post-coup interim charter to expedite investigation into the scandal, Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday.

The PM has resolved that for the sake of appropriateness, the anti-|corruption agencies responsible should be allowed to do their work, the spokesman said.

Critics earlier suggested that General Prayut, who is also head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), should issue an order |exercising his power under Article 44 of the interim charter to expedite the ongoing probes.

“The prime minister is well aware of the general concern that the wrongdoers must be identified as soon as possible.

“But the government also has to take appropriateness into account. There are available steps for implementation and there are agencies that are directly responsible, such as the NACC and the OAG, and relevant laws,” Sansern said.

He was referring to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Office of the Auditor-General, which are separately investigating the alleged irregularities.

“There is no need to use Article 44 to deal with this matter,” the spokesman said, adding that going through normal legal process would allow the accused to fight the cases in a transparent and fair manner.

Prayut has issued many orders by invoking Article 44 to bypass certain existing laws in a bid to speed up his government’s work.

The spokesman said that Article 44 would be invoked only when it was necessary, such as when the existing steps were too complex and a delay would adversely affect public interest.

He also said that the prime minister was happy that public awareness against corruption seemed to have increased with mounting calls for the authorities to get the culprits and punish them. “However, the action must be taken carefully and prudently, which may take some time. We are confident that the responsible agencies will do their job to the best of their ability in the national interest.”

Meanwhile, an NACC source said the anti-graft agency might need to send its investigators overseas to interview witnesses living outside Thailand.

The source said the NACC’s fact-finding committee would not take too long to gather information regarding this scandal, as the SFO had agreed to provide necessary data to the Thai anti-graft agency.

Slide in corruption index ranking

The prime minister said he was not worried about a decline in Thailand’s ranking on the corruption perception index by the Berlin-based Transparency International, but he has instructed relevant agencies to pay heed to the assessment to fix any flaws, the government spokesman said.

Sansern said the PM had followed up the matter and instructed concerned agencies to look into weak points addressed in the report.

According to Transparency International’s 2016 corruption perception index report, Thailand scored 35 and was ranked 101st on the list for 2016 – a sharp drop from the previous year when the country scored 38 and was in the 76th spot.

The report said the decline partly stemmed from the current repression, the lack of independent oversight, and the deterioration of rights, which weakened confidence in the country.

Sansern however, defended the drop in the score, saying it is only three points lower that that of the 2015 assessment, and the fall in the rank is probably the result of more countries being assessed.

He said the PM had ordered |concerned agencies to look at weaknesses such as the perceptions of |businessmen in regard to state officials and corruption cases, state procurement, and others areas where Thailand scored low in the assessment.

He suffered from chronic heart disease and had been admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit for a while, according to Dr Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital.

Despite the best efforts of the medical team, Khwankeo passed away at 4.48am yesterday.

Khwankeo was born on September 3, 1928. He was the twin brother of Keokhwan Vajarodaya, the former lord chamberlain who passed away last year.

A prayer ceremony for Khwankeo will be held for seven days at the Benjamabopit Temple, according to his son Distorn, who is a senior official at the Royal Household Bureau. Khwankeo’s funeral ceremony has come under the royal sponsorship of His Majesty the King, the Royal Household Bureau said.

The King assigned privy councillor Palakorn Suwannarat to represent him in a bathing rite and place His Majesty’s wreath in front of Khwankeo’s coffin.

Past committees set up to determine ways to deal with the problem, which has continued for over a decade, mostly came up with a suggestion to offer amnesty to those who violated the law due to political reasons.

Altogether seven such committees were established between 2009 and 2016 for the mission and they submitted separate reports with suggestions on how to achieve reconciliation. The proposals differed from one committee to another, but many of the study groups agreed that amnesty was needed to achieve national unity.

A National Reform Council committee charged with studying ways to achieve reconciliation, which was set up in 2015 and headed by independent scholar Anek Laothamatas, found that most political leaders involved in the conflict wanted amnesty to be granted. This finding was included in the panel’s report on suggestions for reconciliation.

Amnesty for select groups, particularly ordinary protesters and state officials performing their duties, was also proposed by other panels set up to study ways to reach reconciliation.

These include the Truth for National Reconciliation Committee headed by Kanit Na Nakorn that was set up in 2010 after deadly political unrest, the King Pokklao’s Institute, and the House Subcommittee on National Reconciliation that was set up in 2012 and headed by former coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

Suggestions on amnesty by the Sonthi panel were included in a bill for national reconciliation that covered law offences stemming from political conflicts between September 2006 and May 2011.

Shortly afterwards, in 2012, the then-ruling Pheu Thai Party proposed a separate draft law for national reconciliation that called for blanket amnesty for offenders of all crimes committed during the political conflicts. Critics said the proposed law would also benefit corrupt politicians facing legal action. They claimed Pheu Thai politicians had former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in mind when they proposed the amnesty bill.

The bill managed to sail through the House of Representatives, leading to a public outcry. Widespread dissatisfaction led to street protests that continued for several months before the military staged a coup in May 2014.

Even after the coup, the Constitu-tion Drafting Commis-sion’s subcommittee on reconciliation, set up in 2015 and headed by Bhumarat Taksadipong, also came up with a proposal for granting amnesty to people who had committed wrongdoings linked to the political conflicts, except for severe crimes and lese majeste.

However, in the latest effort to promote reconciliation, the post-coup government aims to get Thailand out of the years of conflict and achieve sustainable reconciliation, according to Ekkachai Srivilas, secretary of the National Reform Steering Assembly’s subcommittee charged with finding a way to end political conflicts and reach reconciliation.

He said his panel, which was set up recently and headed by academic Sungsidh Piriyarangsan, had to come up with means and methods to reach unity and reconciliation, as requested by the government.

The panel is studying suggestions presented by its seven predecessors in their separate reports. Its members include representatives from the four major conflicting parties – Pheu Thai, the Democrat Party, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, and People’s Democratic Reform Committee. Hopefully, the latest panel will be able to come up with practical suggestions that are acceptable to all sides. But their proposals are unlikely to be put into practice completely by this government. It will have to depend on the next administration, to be formed after the election, to push the measures further to reach the long-awaited reconciliation.

The Association to Protect the Thai Constitution (APTC) released a statement calling on the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) and Commerce Ministry to take action against Suphat Saquandeekul, deputy director-general of Intellectual Property Department. It said Suphat, 60, had committed a “shameful” crime and humiliated the reputation of the Thai government around the world.

Srisuwan Janya, APTC secretary-general, said in the statement that although a fine had been paid for the offence that Suphat committed on an official visit to Kyoto, the incident had damaged the reputation of Thai people and the government. The paintings were valued at 15,000 yen (Bt4,684).

Suphat, who was arrested last week for committing the theft, was freed on payment of a fine.

“Suphat’s behaviour made it clear that he intended to steal the paintings from the hotel, and we feel it very shameful that a high-ranking Thai civil servant should commit such a crime. It also reflects that the reputation of Thai civil servants has reached an all-time low,” Srisuwan said. “Therefore, the prime minister, as head of the OCSC, must punish him, as his behaviour can count as being morally defective and shameful to society. The Commerce Minister must fire him because he violated the rules of the Civil Service Act.”

Srisuwan said the authorities should also cancel Suphat’s pension and welfare to set a standard for civil servants who destroy the country’s reputation, and thus warn others not to do similar things.

He warned the authorities that if the OCSC and Commerce Ministry did not take serious action against the wrongdoer, or it tried to help him, the APTC would consider such action as nonfeasance and file a lawsuit against the relevant agencies.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Friday that the Commerce Ministry would set up a committee to investigate the case. He said that, according to OCSC standards, theft was not a serious crime, but if the action affected the country’s reputation, it could be considered so.

However, Wissanu said it was still too early to judge and Suphat would have to be treated fairly.

Chatchai Promlert, the department’s director-general, said that since heavy rain hit the region in December, 1.8 million people in 12 provinces had been affected by severe flooding.

As well as the 91 who lost their lives, four people were still missing.

The floods also damaged roads in 4,314 areas, 348 bridges, 270 drainage pipes, 123 weirs, and two reservoirs. About 70 government places and 2,336 schools were also affected.

“Flooding has already receded in seven provinces, but some areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Pattalung, and Pattani are still under water,” Chatchai said.

He said the Meteorological Department had forecast less rain in the South due to a weaker North Eastern monsoon, “so we have cooperated with the five provinces that are still flooded to drain the water out to the sea during this period to resolve the situation”.

Pol Capt Thanadej Chanmala, an inspector at Tha Ruea Police, said police and firemen raced to the scene after being alerted to a crisis at Wat Saphan 1 Community at around 9.20pm.

Thanadej said the community was a slum with wooden houses packed into a small road. A lot of people had fled with their belongings, but only one fire truck could enter the community at a time. However, firemen were able to control the blaze within 45 minutes.

Police inspected the scene after the fire was brought under control, he said, and found about 30 houses had been destroyed. No one was hurt.

“The cause of the fire is still unknown, as we will have to wait for investigative officers to look at the scene,” he said.

Meanwhile, Klong Toei District Office had already provided temporary shelter for those who lost their homes in the fire – at the sports ground of nearby Samakkhi Songkhro School.

Leader of the community Nittaya Promporcheunboon said they had around 150 occupied houses and at the time of incident a community member told her there was fire at the one of the abandoned houses. She called the police and fire service immediately when she realised that the fire would spread quickly.

Klong Toei district director Atcharawadee Chaisuwirat said that this community had 286 houses in an area of 25 rai but the fire had only damaged about 1 rai of land and homes.

“The victims of this fire are entitled to compensation of Bt1,000 each for the damage to their home and Bt10,000 for the loss of career benefits.

“The affected people can register with the officers today [yesterday],” Atcharawadee said.

Udom said the law-drafting panel was working on an organic law concerning deliberations on offences of political office-holders along with other legislation, including political parties and the Election Commission, which were 90 per cent completed.

The CDC is considering giving courts the power to proceed in cases where offenders have fled the country so that the cases are not held up and potentially cause evidence to disappear.

The CDC is also considering allowing offenders to appeal to the Supreme Court based on new legal interpretations and not new |evidence, as this would prolong the court hearings too long, Udom |said.

The charter draft has addressed the appeal process but does not go into detail so it is necessary for the specific conditions to be addressed in the organic law for clarity, Udom said.

In addition, support from new mechanisms, such as staff from the anti-corruption court, should be created to help the work of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders, he added.

But all these details, he said, were still at an initial stage under the CDC’s subcommittee and needed further work, including holding public hearings.