Pete Relief aid rife with graft
PACC report finds cost to state is over B50m
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1 ... with-graft
* Published: 8/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: News
Corruption plaguing disaster relief projects across the country is costing the state more than 50 million baht, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission says.
A recent PACC field inspection of disaster relief budget spending for this year found that 274 of 373 randomly checked flood relief projects worth more than 92 million baht were tainted with irregularities costing the state over 50 million baht.
Graft was uncovered in all 193 projects in 38 districts of six provinces in the Northeast costing the state about 28 million baht, PACC secretary-general Pinyo Thongchai said.Of the 98 flood relief projects in 27 districts of seven provinces in the North, 48 were found to be plagued with graft causing losses of more than 16 million baht to the state.
Corruption was also rife in 15 projects in 11 districts of four provinces in the Central region, costing the state more than 3 million baht.
Of the 31 projects in three southern provinces, 14 were graft-ridden, costing the state 3 million baht, Mr Pinyo said.
He said inquiries found that there were no disasters in some areas which had been declared disaster zones. There were only normal incidents of minor flooding.
The declaration of a disaster area is a precondition for the disbursement of relief money.
Mr Pinyo said photographs of disaster-stricken areas, used as evidence to request relief money, did not represent actual disaster locations. In some cases, one photo was used for several different disaster scenes.
He said there were cases of roads being only partly damaged but repairs were carried out along their entire length.
Mr Pinyo said many construction contractors for disaster relief projects were substandard. Contractors in some districts were related to local influential people and contractors were members of tambon administration organisations.
It was also found that in some districts almost all the projects were overseen by just one supervisor, and some relief projects did not comply with the contracts' terms.
Mr Pinyo said the PACC would submit the findings to the prime minister for him to consider reviewing Finance Ministry regulations for the disbursement of disaster relief funding.
Mr Pinyo said the term "disaster" must be clearly defined to designate an actual disaster area.
The PACC has clear evidence of alleged graft involving some of these projects, particularly in Surin and Nakhon Si Thammarat, Mr Pinyo said. It would present the findings to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
"The evidence could link some district heads who approved the projects," he said.
Meanwhile, all 16 sluice gates at the Chao Phraya dam in Chainat have been opened to release water at a rate of 1,588 cubic metres a second into the Chao Phraya River after a large volume of water flowed into the dam from the North.
Residents along the banks of the Chao Phraya in Chainat are moving their belongings to high ground.
The Chao Phraya burst its banks in Ang Thong yesterday, flooding 30 households in Pa Mok district, increasing the number to 60 of households hit over the past week.
Royal Irrigation Department spokesman Boonsanong Suchatpong said the water would reach Bangkok in the next few days, although it would not have an impact on the capital.
Pete 
