Activist wants funding probe into renovations at Govt House

Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a political advocate, announced on Wednesday that he would submit a petition to the NACC to examine the 138 million baht spent on Government House’s construction and procurement projects.

Mr. Ruangkrai claimed that 138 million baht was allotted for the 2024 fiscal year’s function that the House committee is currently reviewing was for the purpose of approving the budget expenses. Some of the function is currently underway.

Mr. Ruangkrai claimed that the delay in the formation of the coalition government following last month’s general election had hindered the distribution of the 2024 resources.

The money could n’t be spent unless the renovation and procurement project was tied-over from the fiscal year 2023. If the case did n’t understand the resource of the money, it might be held accountable. &nbsp,

Mr Ruangkrai said he would ask the NACC to investigate the expenditure, which could be in violation of Section 141 and Section 144 ( 3 ) of the charter. The Office of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat requested the funds for the construction and procurement job.

He claimed that” spending the money before the funds is approved is a legal contravention.” The NACC and then the Constitutional Court should be brought in to address the issue if the government fails to stop it once it is aware of this possible violation.

Mr. Ruangkrai added that he would ask the House committee to veto the budget bill to reduce Government House’s funding for construction and procurement.

He had now asked&nbsp, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to look into the need of the 138 million baht expenses. Nevertheless, he then decided to look into the project details himself, after some federal numbers came out to protect the job.

” I found out that the 138 million baht budget sought for the scheme is n’t part of the previous 2023 fiscal year spending plan, so the disbursement might not be legitimate”, he said.

The 138 million baht that will be used for the job at Government House includes spending 32 million ringgit on installing smoke detectors in the Thai Ku Fah tower, 11 million baht on creating a modern workplace structure, and 8.5 million baht on updating the management structure and internet.

Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a prolific applicant, is shown in the document picture.