webfact Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 SRT to seek court injunction for Hopewell payment By THE NATION Jirut Wisanjit The Department of Land Transport’s director-general Jirut Wisanjit in his capacity as the president of the board of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) said after the first board meeting on Wednesday (October 16) that the SRT board had received a report from the committee on the Hopewell case revealing that the Hopewell elevated highway and rail line project could have violated the law regarding foreign companies. The committee is chaired by Pisak Jitwiriyawasin, deputy permanent secretary of the Transport Ministry. “The report stated that the Announcement of the National Executive Council No. 281 required foreign companies to be qualified and approved by the Cabinet before conducting business in Thailand, which Hopewell was not,” said Jirut. “Therefore, the SRT board agreed that SRT and Ministry of Transport will file a civil case against Hopewell in the Civil Court,” he said. “Furthermore, SRT will file an appeal for an injunction by the Supreme Administrative Court to temporarily suspend the court order for SRT to pay the compensation to Hopewell, which was originally scheduled on this Saturday (October 19).” Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30377466 -- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-10-17 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith101 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 This is so typical of Thai , they lose a court case so they counter sue . If there was any evidence it would or should have been put forward during the initial court case not after talk about sour grapes . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatOngo Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 9 minutes ago, webfact said: “The report stated that the Announcement of the National Executive Council No. 281 required foreign companies to be qualified and approved by the Cabinet before conducting business in Thailand, which Hopewell was not,” said Jirut. I fail to understand why they were awarded the contract and allowed to start work if this is the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkidlad Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 For any company or persons looking to invest or do business in Thailand, this story should be a massive insight into how business is done here. Truly appalling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadbury Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 6 minutes ago, keith101 said: This is so typical of Thai , they lose a court case so they counter sue . If there was any evidence it would or should have been put forward during the initial court case not after talk about sour grapes . The SRT appealed the original decision and they lost that as well. Now they have been forced to move into the gutter with their dirty tricks to try to get out of paying. I expect the SRT has had closed doors pre-trial "discussions" with the civil court judges and the "fix" is on. I hope potential foreign investors are watching this sideshow just to see what might be in store for them should they risk their money by investing in Corruptland. https://www.thaipbsworld.com/transport-ministry-and-srt-to-pay-hopewell-12-billion-baht-compensation/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chang_paarp Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I wonder if the SRT board members and politicians around at the time of signing the original contract are included in this new round of court action? I am sure there could be an argument put that they are jointly liable. For good measure they could sue the SRT and Ministry of Transport as the authorising authorities. ........ Oh wait a minute.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fex Bluse Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Could be that the actual government is in on the scam as they are nearing insolvency and can't pay Hopewell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holy cow cm Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 So typical. Who would’ve thought they would stoop to a civil law suit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotchilli Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 5 hours ago, webfact said: “The report stated that the Announcement of the National Executive Council No. 281 required foreign companies to be qualified and approved by the Cabinet before conducting business in Thailand, which Hopewell was not,” said Jirut. I find that hard to understand... so how was the contract signed & approved by who? SRT clutching a very short straw ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fforest1 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 5 hours ago, rkidlad said: For any company or persons looking to invest or do business in Thailand, this story should be a massive insight into how business is done here. Truly appalling. I trust the government.....I have been thinking of starting a gold mining company.......O-wait.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 6 hours ago, webfact said: “The report stated that the Announcement of the National Executive Council No. 281 required foreign companies to be qualified and approved by the Cabinet before conducting business in Thailand, which Hopewell was not,” The Hopewell Project was signed by MOTC (Mr. Montri Phongphanit) in the Chatichai Choonhavan government*, SRT and Hopewell (Thailand) Co.Ltd. (Mr. Gordon Woo) on November 9, 1990. Hopewell's critics have tried to paint the company as a carpet-bagger which took advantage of Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan's notorious casual and corrupt administration in the late 1980s to extract a vague contract containing no penalty clauses for late completion. https://www.scmp.com/article/65073/hopewell-fights-back-over-delayed-thai-rail-project Note that the Hopewell contract operated under the Alien Business Act of 1972. I failed to find any details of the Act that would have required Cabinet approval of the Hopewell contact. Neither the MOT nor SRT cites any specific provisions of ABA in effect at the time of the contract award. There is such a provision in the Foreign Business Act of 1999 that replaced the ABA for Cabinet approval for List 2 (ie., operation of public transport) and for MOT for List 3 (construction) businesses. Given the scope of the Hopewell contract to both construct and operate an SRT line, it's not clear (to me at least) that full Cabinet approval was required vs. MOT approval. But of course the FBA wouldn't apply to Hopewell contract award in any event and perhaps Pisak's blame for a faulty or unlawful contract is misdirected. The short of this story is that it appears that the MOT in 1990 knowingly approved the Hopewell contract and Hopewell proceeded with contract execution. * On 23 February 1991, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, General Sunthorn Kongsompong, and the generals of the Chulalongkorn Military Academy class 5 formed the National Peace Keeping Council to depose Chatichai's government in a coup d'état. They accused the elected government of massive corruption and abuse of power for its own advantage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatichai_Choonhavan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydebolle Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 Thais are NEVER wrong and if it does not work their way round then the scapegoat is alien, irrespective if form the East, West or anywhere else. This will certainly set new levels in dealing with Thai governmental contracts in particular and with Thais in general. Blood is thicker than water - that's how the saying goes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin case Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 meaning: you farang company will lose money if you dare to invest thailand was ok for a holiday destination long time ago greed and corruption on every level and a brainwashed low educated population is what thailand is, good for manual cheap labour and let's not forget ahum "tourism and temples" and what not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlycw Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 Oh, ahh, here we go again. Cui bono? Let's see. Mmm. Perhaps, SRT doesn't want to pay (the amount due, or at all)?! How about SRT paying the full amount into an escrow account, to show good faith? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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