Updated: Backs scratched

There is a ruling class in Thailand and they always scratch each other’s backs.

The Bangkok Post reports that:

Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered the Ministry of Transport to terminate two contracts with Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) following crane collapse incidents that resulted in over 30 deaths.

At the same time, Khaosod English reports:

Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited has secured seven government construction projects worth a combined 26 billion baht following the collapse of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) building, according to procurement records on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

That collapse has been put down to shoddy materials and poor engineering.

But Italian-Thai Development, and its family of owners, have been in the news for a long time. Back in 2011, under the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime, the company got caught up in disputes over its Myanmar investments, with the regime supporting the company. Scratchie, scratchie.

Long the boss of Italian-Thai, Premchai Karnasuta, who has long been a big deal in the business world, with impeccable connections (his CV). For a while he was listed in the Forbes richest 50 for Thailand. He’s used to getting his way. Scratchie, scratchie.

Hence, he was probably very surprised when he was caught red-handed poaching wildlife in the World Heritage Thungyai Naresuan sanctuary in 2018. He’d have thought all his connections would have prevented any authorities getting too interested in his illegal hunting. But never fear, there was plenty of scratchie, scratchie.

To cut a long story short, after several charges were dropped, a public outcry eventually led to legal action against Premchai who was briefly jailed before being bailed. Scratchie, scratchie. He also saw some legal action over the OAG building but again was walking free. Scratchie, scratchie.

But the back scratching also saw all those billion baht contracts, even after the company’s abject failure. Now, there have been two more failures leading to many deaths and injuries. Anutin, from another construction family, only stops two contracts. Scratchie, scratchie.

Update: The Nation reports that:

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Minister of Transport, chaired a meeting to follow up on the progress of transportation safety measures after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul issued an order to the Ministry of Transport to cancel two contracts with Italian-Thai Development (ITD) due to the repeated crane collapses. He also ordered the suspension of all ITD construction projects—14 contracts in total—for 15 days to conduct safety checks.

ITD is hoping it keeps its contracts, not least because they must have a large investment in pay-offs for their contracts.