Former army chief welcomes probes into army’s dumped airship

BANGKOK, Sept 15 (TNA) -- Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda welcomed probes into the purchase of a surveillance airship during his past tenure as the army chief and said the probes should be comprehensive to prevent misunderstanding. In response to criticisms on the decommissioned airship that was expensive and rarely used, Gen Anupong said that he would like to know who were assessing the efficiency of the airship. He said the airship procurement was priced at 350 million baht including five cameras worth 250 million baht that remained usable and the airship and its hangar worth 100 million baht. The army was in the right position to assess the use of the airship and would be ready to investigate corruption complaints. He supported such complaints, saying that probes would be better than baseless criticisms. He admitted that the airship had been bought when he had been the army chief but he said concerned parties should also look at other people involved in the project including those accepting the airship, sealing its procurement contract and using it. “I was not directly responsible for the procurement when it happened. Probe cannot focus only on my tenure as the army chief,” Gen Anupong said. He encouraged all concerned parties to study all information about the airship project, saying an initial misunderstanding would only give a wrong picture of the whole procurement project. (TNA)