Glove procurement cases take shape

PWO director Kriangsak Prateepvisut said yesterday (May 4) that the PWO is preparing to file civil and criminal lawsuits against those offenders after the NACC last month found grounds against 22 suspects, including senior PWO officials involved with alleged corruption in the gloves’ procurement.

The initial damage to the PWO was estimated at B2bn, which excluded the interest that acting PWO director Pol Col Rungroj Puttiyaphiwat and his associates colluded in withdrawing from the PWO’s bank account to pay a deposit to Guardian Gloves Co Ltd, Mr Kriangsak said.

Guardian Gloves received orders from the PWO to supply rubber gloves which were in high demand during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports the Bangkok Post.

The PWO put down B2bn as a deposit for the order. However, the PWO never received a single pair of gloves, and the organisation has now scrapped the contract with the firm.

Mr Kriangsak said the NACC earlier froze B550 million of the B2bn in the bank account of Guardian Gloves, as well as 33 rai of land. Besides the bank account, Amlo discovered additional amounts of assets but said they cannot be disclosed for now.

That said, the PWO will cooperate with the two agencies to retrieve its assets soon, Mr Kriangsak explained. He said the tortious liability of state officials had been vetted by the panel and will be submitted to the Finance Ministry so that a civil lawsuit can be launched.

The PWO has also coordinated with the NACC to obtain information and send it to Amlo to probe transactions with the firm to file criminal lawsuits in relation to corruption.