Ministry loses bid for injunction

The Supreme Administrative Court yesterday did not accept a petition lodged by the Transport Ministry asking for an injunction against the court’s order for the state to pay compensation to the private contractor for cancelling the Hopewell elevated train project.

The court said the previous ruling was to be upheld.

In November, 2007 the court ruled the Ministry of Transport and State Railway Authority had to pay compensation to Hopewell (Thailand) and in April 2019, the court ruled the ministry and SRT must pay compensation of 11.8 billion baht plus an accrued interest rate of 7.5% to the company.

The Transport Ministry spearheaded by minister Saksaya Chidchob and the current government has tried to get the Hopewell saga retried, in a bid to avoid paying the huge amount of compensation.

Despite the unfavourable ruling yesterday, the Transport Ministry and SRT said they would not give up.

In March, the Constitutional Court said a previous ruling in 2002 contravened the charter because the Supreme Administrative Court had failed to send it to parliament for inspection and did not publish it in the Royal Gazette as required by law.

The SRT had also asked the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) under the Ministry of Justice to investigate the business registration of Hopewell (Thailand), accusing it of unlawfully registering with the Department of Business Development.