Park corruption scandal casts shadow over government

Efficient management of crises will help organisations to survive and sometimes emerge even stronger from bad situations. However, those organisations that fail to cope with crises could allow their problems to grow and might end up collapsing.

The military clique that is now in power should pay more attention to crisis management to deal with a problem that is growing dangerously. An alleged irregularity involving construction of the Army’s Rajabhakti Park project has grown into a scandal that is threatening the stability of the government and the National Council for Peace and Order.

The transparency of this Army project has been questioned. The project is aimed at honouring seven beloved Thai monarchs from the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya eras to the current Rattanakosin era. A number of senior military officers allegedly involved in the scandal have escaped, which has fuelled further suspicions over the project.

Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr, formerly the Army commander-in-chief and also chairman of the Rajabhakti Park Foundation, had admitted that kickbacks were sought from the foundries hired to cast statues of the former kings for the park. He said the Army had intervened after being aware of the irregularity.

The kickbacks were returned to the foundries involved but the money was later donated back to the Army to fund construction of the park, according to Udomdej, who oversaw the project when serving as the Army chief.

However, a lot of questions involving this scandal have remained unanswered. The Army has denied any corruption involving the project but its explanations have failed to get rid of some suspicions. A fact-finding committee was set up to investigate, but it was conducted by people within the Army. As a result, suspicions of bias were unavoidable.

It appears the military clique in power is not dealing with their crisis in a professional way. They started by rejecting suggestions of any corruption involved with the project. 

Then, after more information was released and a number of people involved began fleeing, the Army decided to set up the fact-finding committee. Army chief General Teerachai Nakwanich, who is Udomdej's successor, simply told a press conference later that the project was free from corruption. But he failed to produce any evidence to prove that. Also, his aggressive manner during the press conference attracted even further suspicions.

The government has maintained that this project is not its responsibility. But it was found that the Cabinet acknowledged the progress of this project on many occasions during its weekly meetings. The Office of the Auditor General disclosed recently that about Bt63 million from the government's central budget was spent on this project.

Following increased pressure, the Defence Ministry set up a committee to investigate the matter, but all the panel members are military officers, without any outsiders. So, there is still suspicion whether the panel would suggest punishment against its “comrades in arms” should any be found involved in the scandal.

The military appeared to have made a wrong move again when it opted to detain Pheu Thai Party politicians and red-shirt leaders Jatuporn Promphan and Nuttawut Saikuar while on their way to the Rajabhakti Park in Hua Hin on Monday. 

The two firebrand politicians claimed they just wanted to visit the project site, but it was obvious they wanted to get arrested in order to make headlines. They succeeded after the military fell into their trap, although the two men were released later the same day.

The problem that seems to be growing out of control could be blamed on unprofessional crisis management. If the military still fails to contain the damage, impact on the government could be worse than expected.