The New Democracy Movement (NDM) filed a civil lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police, the Army and the Office of Prime Minister for actions taken against them on May 22, 2015, when officers allegedly assaulted demonstrators in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC).

A source in NDM’s legal team claimed that the protest was in line with people’s rights and freedom, and the group is suing the authorities for damages because officers used force against them.

On May 22, 2015, pro-democracy activists held a symbolic protest outside BACC on the first anniversary of the 2014 coup and many were arrested for violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings. Officers reportedly assaulted those resisting arrest.

The court yesterday decided to hear the accusers from July 18 to 21 and the defendants from July 26 to 28 and on August 1 and 2.

The criminal lawsuit filed against the NDM for allegedly violating the political ban has, however, not progressed, the source said, adding that the case was still in the hands of the police and not taken to court yet.

“The Thai Navy requires submarines to maintain a military balance in the region because other neighbouring countries already have them. It will help protect our sovereignty, as well as our abundant marine resources, notably in the Andaman Sea,” Prawit said.

The Navy proposed buying three Chinese-built submarines for a total of Bt36 billion. The plan features the acquisition of S26T diesel-electric submarines, which are modified export versions of the Yuan-class (Type 041).

The first submarine will cost around Bt13.5 billion under fiscal budget 2017, according to the Navy. The annual budget was approved in a fiscal bill last September.

However, the procedures of the deal appeared a bit confused. Prawit said Cabinet had not received the final plan, but Navy spokesman Chumphon Lumpikanon said the plan had already been approved in accordance with the Prime Minister Office’s regulations of procurement.

The Navy has to propose the budget plan to Cabinet, which endorses it and asks for approval from Parliament. But the NLA reported that it had already approved the plan in the annual budget bill in September.

“Now, we are considering details on the equipment to be installed in the submarine,” the spokesman said, noting that the Chinese producer would take six years to build the vessel.

Local security experts are split on the whether the Navy needs a small fleet of submarines as maritime threats are not perfectly clear. Some analysts say buying surface vessels would be a better defence strategy.

Wanwichit Boonprong, a security expert at Rangsit University, said the purchase might be financially questionable as the cost was twice as much as HTMS Chakri Naruebet – an aircraft carrier purchased 20 years ago that has seen little use, although it is still regarded as strategically worthwhile amid a rise in maritime threats in the Asia Pacific.

He highlighted tension in the South China Sea involving China and nations in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, saying the purchase would enhance the country’s naval capabilities and could be deemed a deterrent |against possible maritime threats or bullying.

Wanwichit agreed that military purchases “can be made way easier under a [military-installed] government than under a civilian government – under which the Army could only buy second-hand and outdated equipment.”

A PROMINENT Falun Gong member from China is facing a court battle in Thailand and the risk of repatriation over allegedly entering the country illegally.

“He can’t go back [to China] anymore because he has distributed information on the torture of Falun Gong members in China,” Kohnwilai Teppunkoonngam of the Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP) said yesterday.

Because of his activities, Song Zhiyu has caught the attention of international media.

Kohnwilai said Song is a human-rights defender, adding that because he had been outspoken about the fate of many Falun Gong co-religionists, he had been persecuted in China from 2008-14.

He was arrested and sent to labour camps several times, but it was only after officials called on his father with a suggestion that he abandon Falun Gong that Song decided to leave China.

Chinese authorities have treated Falung Gong as a threat to social stability.

In March 2014, Song fled to Thailand in the hope of seeking asylum outside of China, but two years later he left Thailand along with many Falun Gong members.

The group was bound for New Zealand but their boat capsized near Chumphon and they were arrested by Thai authorities.

“Song has to date maintained that he did not enter Thailand without permission. He insisted he got in through proper channels and carried a passport,” Kohnwilai said.

Song, who is free on bail, will attend a hearing at Chumphon Court today.

Kohnwilai said Song had lost his passport during his detention in Thailand and had no idea which official had taken his travel papers.

She said she hoped Chumphon Court would consider the fact that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had given Song refugee status.

“By international protocol, he has the right to stay in Thailand while waiting for his emigration to a third country,” she said.

According to the CRSP, Song is not the only Falun Gong member in custody in Thailand.

Several others have been locked up at an Immigration Police facility in Bangkok, CRSP staff said, including a Chinese woman named Gu Qiao and her baby. Last March, they were on the same boat that capsized near Chumphon.

CRSP staff suggested that authorities consider an alternative to detention for refugees, pointing out that the move would ease the government’s burden in caring for them.

Kohnwilai said some refugees would have to wait five or eight years before they could move to another country.

Officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) captured some of the birds from Silom to check their health including tests for bird flu.

The birds were tagged before being let free again.

Officials want to monitor and gather information on migratory birds, some of which are believed to fly from China and Russia in search of friendly weather conditions.

Available records suggest the number of barn swallows in the Silom area has decreased. In 1994, a survey estimated the population at 270,000. Late last year, officials surveyed the population and found just 1,500 barn swallows in Silom.

Thaopipop Limjitkorn, 28, was arrested over the weekend after Excise Department officials raided his three-storey shop house and found equipment for making craft beer.

The arrest has prompted an online campaign on Change.org for authorities to liberate craft-beer making. So far, the campaign has drawn more than 6,500 signatures in support.

Thaopipop said he loved beer so much that he invented his own formula for making flavourful craft beer. He decided to bottle it for sale after his friends said they loved the taste and were prepared to buy it.

His arrest has prompted netizens to cry foul, questioning why authorities protect industrial beer makers and pointing out that even tech gurus in Silicon Valley made their own beer.

A popular Facebook page, Plik Fuen Puen Paendin Thai, or “restoring Thailand”, said it was unfortunate that making craft beer was illegal in Thailand.

“Thailand is a nation with the second largest number of beer drinkers in Asean and the market value of beer sales is higher than Bt137 billion. It’s strange that the market share belongs to just a few firms.

“But don’t be surprised that our law does not allow anybody to make beer for self-consumption and sale. The law requires that anyone who wants to make beer for sale in shops must have at least Bt10 million registered capital and must make at least 100,000 litres of beer a month,” the page states.

Wanchai Tantiwitthayapitak, a well-known author, wondered why Thailand has only two major beer makers while some foreign countries have several brands and locally made craft beers.

“I have seen in several nations that making beer is a normal activity, not an illegal one,” Wanchai posted.

A senior official from the Excise Department said the current alcohol control law does not allow anyone to make alcoholic drink even for self-consumption, let alone for sale, without a licence.

The official, who cannot be named because of government regulations, said the alcohol control law that has been in use since 1950 had been amended, although the amendments actually imposed harsher penalties.

THE NATIONAL Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) expected to receive details from the UK next week about its probe into bribes of more than Bt1 billion paid by aircraft engine-maker Rolls-Royce to Thai officials in connection with Thai Airways International (THAI)’s purchase of Boeing aircraft between 1991 and 2005.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who was also deputy premier in 2004 during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, said he could not remember the details of Cabinet resolutions during that time concerning the approval for THAI to buy Rolls-Royce engines.

Isra News Agency reported that the Cabinet on November 23, 2004 approved a proposal submitted by Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit to buy 14 air planes for Thai Airways International at the price of Bt96.355 billion.

Suriya changed from the original plan the number of air planes from 15 comprising used planes to 14 brand new ones.

According to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), there is evidence to indicate the payment of kickbacks by Rolls-Royce to Thai officials totalling US$38 million (Bt1.3 billion) during the 1991-2005 period. Payments involved three separate contracts signed by THAI to buy Rolls-Royce engines for the national-flag carrier’s Boeing aircraft.

Wissanu said a Rolls-Royce representative previously provided data on the cases to THAI but some specifics had not been disclosed as they required the authorisation of the UK government. However, the NACC is empowered to seek evidence from its UK counterpart regarding who paid and received bribes and when the payments took place.

THAI has set up committees to investigate the allegations and the Office of Auditor-General said that while the statute of limitations for some cases may have expired, those implicated in bribery scandals should still face disciplinary action.

Payments disguised

Wissana said it was too early to arrive at a conclusion regarding allegations because authorities were still in the fact-gathering stage.

Meanwhile, Prasert Bunsumpun, a former chief executive of PTT, said he had no involvement in Rolls-Royce contracts although he was the top executive at the state-owned oil and gas company during the relevant period.

The Guardian newspaper has reported that Rolls-Royce employees hired intermediaries to help to secure contracts with PTT, including one case in which an employee and senior PTT executive discussed how a large payment could be disguised by the company’s accounting software.

More than $11m in corrupt payments were made over 10 years, according to the UK paper.

When asked about the alleged bribes, Prasert said: “PTT has set up an investigation committee, so we may have to wait to see the results [of who was involved] from outside and inside [PTT] and respect the outcome.”

Prasert served as chief executive officer and president of PTT from January 1, 2008, to September 9, 2011. He still sits on PTT’s board as an independent director and chairman of the Remuneration Committee.

He is also on the board of PTT subsidiaries and other private companies including Thaicom Plc and Thoresen Thai Agencies Plc.

Anon Sirisaengtaksin, former chief executive of PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP), said he was the CEO of the firm after the period when the alleged bribes took place.

“I’m surprised,” he said, commenting on the alleged involvement of PTT and PTTEP in the scandal.

He said PTT usually pursued most of its projects on a turnkey basis, meaning it did not have control over the decisions of its contractors or the equipment they used.

“Contractors choose their own [equipment]. [The supplier] might lobby the contractors. We would usually not buy the engines by |ourselves. This is my presumption,” he said.

The Bt31 million worth of projects, conducted by the Fine Arts Department, involve the refurbishment Command Buildings I and II to mirror the architectural tones of the venerable Thai Khu Fah and Santi Maitri buildings.

The projects, started in March last year, were set to be completed on January 21 or last Saturday.

Wilas said he had not looked through the project contracts but their construction occasionally ceased when the buildings hosted important meetings or were visited by official foreign guests.

“Those are unexpected circumstances,” he said “If the delay is caused by contractors, we will have to follow related regulations. But I insist that the government does everything transparently,” he said.

Also on Monday, 10 large lotus tubs were brought to garnish Government House in line with Wilas’ initiative to enhance the atmosphere around the compound. Professional world-class gardeners from Nongnooch Tropical Garden were assigned to oversee the decoration.

The colourful tubs were placed in front of Thai Khu fah building, the House’s main shrine, and the grass field in front of Command Building I, all of which are where PM often walks past when commuting between the two buildings.

While an informed source said that the lotus tubs were placed to strengthen the fates of the PM and his junta government in keeping with beliefs, Wilas insisted that they were only for decoration.

“Czech authorities will provide five policemen to escort him during his flight back,” Pol Lt-General Nattorn Prohsunthorn, the chief of the Thailand’s Immigration Bureau, said yesterday.

Zdenek Pfeifer, 49, was arrested in Phuket last week in response to the request from Interpol and Czech authorities.

Interpol recently issued an alert about Pfeifer describing him, saying he “may be armed, infectious and is liable to commit sexual offence involving minors”.

The alert did not mention the nature of the infection but Thai police have implied that he might be HIV-positive.