NACC targets six officials over dodgy scanner deal

The graftbusting agency has wrapped up one of its probes into the controversial GT200 and Alpha 6 bomb and narcotics detectors and found six state officials in the wrong.

National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) chairman, Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, said the probe in question involves the purchase of Alpha 6 drug detecting devices in Phitsanulok by officials attached to the Interior Ministry.

Six officials were found guilty of malfeasance said Mr Watcharapol. But the probe determined that senior government officials or politicians were not involved in the purchase.

The NACC has forwarded the probe results to the Office of the Attorney-General recommending the six be indicted.

The NACC set up 12 sub-committees to look into the procurement of the GT200 and Alpha 6 scanners after a 2012 Department of Special Investigation (DSI) report said three possible illegal factors could be involved — inflated prices, fraud or price collusion in purchases.

“The investigation clearly found that the suspects committed an offence,” Mr Watcharapol said.

According to the NACC chairman, the findings in this case will likely have a bearing on another ongoing investigation into GT200 and Alpha 6 devices.

A source close to the investigation said the six officials were found to have failed to check the inflated prices.

According to the source, the purchase took place in 2008 and the six accused failed to check the prices with other agencies that had also procured the scanners, causing damage to the state.

GT200 devices were first put to use in 2009 in Sungai Kolok district in Narathiwat and Kok Pho district in Pattani. The DSI insisted the devices be used in insurgentplagued areas. Bomb blasts continued to occur in these areas causing many deaths and injuries, after the devices failed to register the presence of explosives.

The Alpha 6 was supposedly a narcotics detector and is reportedly the focus of a fraud probe in the United Kingdom. The Thai government was a major buyer of the Alpha 6 for narcotic suppression.