In the wake of the election, various parties are busy arranging the formation of the next government. Apart from the two big parties, what we should keep our eyes on is the bargaining by the middle-sized parties with a few seats, both Chart Thai and Puea Pandin. These two parties make attractive partners and are only waiting for the red-card and yellow-card decisions of the Election Commission (EC) before coming out a little more clearly and making a verbal agreement, just in case they make a wrong choice.

In the midst of all the mainstream news on the political dealing, it is believable that the Khlong Dan case is becoming an important condition on the bargaining table. Will Puea Pandin, with 24 MPs, really join a government of one side or the other? This is a make-or-break issue for Vatana Asavahame, chief advisor of Puea Pandin, an important person with one foot already in prison since the NCCC published clear evidence and the case is under investigation by the courts.

"Forming a political coalition will have a definite impact on this case and is something that we must keep our eyes on during the bargaining. In the context of all the issues, Khlong Dan may only be one small condition. But for the issue of Khlong Dan itself, it is a very clear and big matter. In the end, if the political bargaining is successful, the case may end in nothing, even though the power of society has gone so far into it that we got a lot of concrete evidence.

"The Khlong Dan case is one with clear evidence as strong as has ever been proved in a large scale development project." This is the opinion of Sukran Rojanapaiwong of the Campaign for Alternative Industry Network (CAIN), part of the research team from the people's sector which produced a report with important evidence that exposed the case in May 2005 with support from the People's Fund for Exposing Corruption.

Khlong Dan Waste Water Treatment Plant ... Tracing Mega-Corruption

The Khlong Dan waste water treatment plant project is the first waste water treatment plant project in Thailand and the biggest in Southeast Asia, with a value of 23,700 million baht, in Khlong Dan Subdistrict, Bang Bo District, Samut Prakan Province.

The project to treat waste water in the Samut Prakan Pollution Control Area was formally approved in 1995, but the general public only learned about the project in 1999 after villagers at the project site mobilized to demonstrate their disapproval and to call for the right to participate in decision-making.. They opposed the project because of their concerns about the impact on the environment and their livelihoods. Khlong Dan is part of a green zone in a mangrove area in the upper Gulf of Thailand. The ecological system is both rich and fragile and provides a livelihood for almost all the local people.

Opposition to the project later expanded and developed new broader dimensions, especially the lack of legitimacy, the lack of transparency, the disregard for and violations of the law, and corruption, which were linked to many national level politicians, government officials and former government officials.

The information in the research organized by Dawan Jantornhassadee and her team showed that the project had two basic parts. One was the pipe system to collect the waste water and the other the waste water treatment system. The treatment system deals with both domestic and industrial waste water on the same site. Previously, the government had planned to separate the two streams. All project details were presented to the National Environment Board and the Cabinet, following a baseline study by a group of consultant companies and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). These agencies had an important role in promoting the project.

Observations that Need an Asterisk

An important issue that many agencies have signalled as worrying is the combination into one project what previously, in the plan to solve the waste water problem of Samut Prakan Province, had been split into two projects, each under a different government agency, the Department of Public Works and the Department of Industrial Works.

The interesting observations concern the Ministry of the Interior.

1) The proposal to have a single system to serve an area of 340 sq km on the east bank may not be suitable for a waste water collection and treatment system. 2) The financial plan for the project came to 13,612 million baht, making it an extremely expensive project. It should have been studied in detail before it was put into operation and should have been located in an area with urgent needs so that the problem could be dealt with quickly and without a large budget. 3) The proposal was for a turnkey project for both design and construction and the private bidders were required to purchase the land for the waste water treatment plant. Having the private sector buy a large plot of land may be a practical problem. Also the cost of buying the land had to be figured into the contract price. There may therefore been no appropriate oversight mechanism. At the same time, government agencies generally use the Land Department as a central agency to coordinate land purchases for government projects and to estimate the price.

A Big Project that Quickly Grew Bigger (Again)

The 13,612 million baht project was adjusted by an extra 10,089 million baht because the Pollution Control Department and related parties decided to change many features of the plan and structure of the project from the one that was approved, including construction methods and budget. The proposals were sent to the National Environment Board and Yingphan Manasikan, then Minister of Science and Technology. The proposals were submitted to a Cabinet meeting as an ‘information item'.

Who's Who in Khlong Dan

The Khlong Dan waste water treatment plant case involves the names of 3 politicians who gave approval. Yingphan Manasikan, former Minister of Science and Technology, signed the waste water treatment plant contract with the contractor in August 1997. He is now dead. Vatana Asavahame, former Minister of the Interior, is being prosecuted for buying land to be used for the project constriction which he then sold to the project while in office.

The other person is Suwat Liptapanlop, the former Minister of Science and Technology, who had an important role in pushing and distorting the project. When his connection with the project was exposed, he was appointed Minister of Justice at the time of the case of the former Prime Minister (Thaksin). Also, a C10 level official and a former C10 level official of the Pollution Control Department, approximately 20 officials of the Land Department, and the private companies involved are the subject of prosecutions for many offences.

The National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) on 14 June 2007 submitted criminal charges to the Office of the Attorney-General, accusing Vatana Asavahame, then Minister of the Interior, of using his official authority to force or induce citizens to sell him land and forcing land officials to issue land titles for 5 plots, totalling 1,900 rai, of mangrove forest, for which land titles cannot be issued, for the operation of the waste water treatment plant in Khlong Dan Subdistrict. A case is also underway against 8 officials of the Land Department and the Local Administration Section for offences against Sections 148, 157 and 84 of the Criminal Code.

Finally on 13 November, in the Political Crimes Section of the Supreme Court, a panel of 9 judges in charge of the case of land corruption in Khlong Dan sat for the first hearing in case OoMo 2/2550, where the Attorney-General as plaintiff charged Vatana Asavahame, former Minister of the Interior, as defendant with offences carrying penalties of 5-20 years or life imprisonment and fines of 2,000-40,000 baht or the death penalty in accordance with Sections 148, 157, 33 and 84 of the Criminal Code and Section 2 of the 1999 National Corruption Prevention and Suppression Act.

One Year after the Coup and Nothing has been Done Worth Talking about.

Sukran has this opinion about the progress of the case: "overall, in the year since the coup, whether we agree with it or not, we can make a judgement according to one of the stated justifications for the coup - corruption. And in reality, the Khlong Dan case was singled out as a clear case. It was declared one of the leading issues that would be dealt with in the first 3 months. But it has since disappeared. Progress has been so slow that it is not worth talking about."

We could single out many politicians who are involved in this case but at this point we want to highlight the evidence against Vatana Asavahame alone, because his case was split into two - one concerning the land and the other the constriction contract. In the second case there has been no progress even though it is a much bigger issue than the land.

After New Year, don't blink while they are sorting out the government ... and the Khlong Dan case.

A full report on the Khlong Dan waste water treatment plant project and policy corruption is available at the news centre of the People's Fund for Exposing Corruption (PFEC news centre: www.pfec.or.th)