Ex-Thai PBS boss fights dismissal
Fears grow of military control of public TV
Somchai Suwanban, who was sacked yesterday as Thai PBS director-general, is seeking an Administrative Court injunction against the Thai PBS board of governors’ decision to abruptly dismiss him from office.
He denies the board’s allegation of mismanagement.
The public broadcaster’s board of governors, who oversee the organisation’s policy, yesterday decided to terminate Mr Somchai’s contract citing several reasons, including an allegation he approved four projects, each worth more than 50 million baht, without board assent.
Media observers, however, have raised concerns that the sudden dismissal of Mr Somchai could be a step toward the military controlling public TV.
Mr Somchai’s dismissal also means the board of directors, who oversee the broadcaster’s operations, chaired by Mr Somchai, has been dissolved.
The board of directors comprised Mr Somchai, three of his deputies — Vanchai Tantivitayapitak, Mongkon Leelatham and Supoj Jingjit — and Phutthisat Namdet and Somthawil Chanyawong, who were board members
Mr Somchai was named director-general on July 26, 2012.
The nine-member board of governors, chaired by Narong Phetprasert, claim that Mr Somchai ignored their suggestions on how to solve the broadcaster’s problems, and that he had no strategy to improve the broadcaster’s competitiveness.
The board also claim Mr Somchai approving the four projects without their approval breached his contract.
This violated Thai PBS’s procurement regulations, the board said without elaborating.
The board said Mr Somchai failed to cooperate when the broadcaster’s internal audit department asked him several times to clarify the projects.
The board said it was within its rights to end his contract without prior warning and to not pay him any compensation.
Puangrat Songmuang, director of Thai PBS’s programming department, has been appointed acting director-general.
Rungmanee Meksophon, who sits on the board of governors, said the board’s decision was unanimous and the dismissal had nothing to do with corruption. It was about a violation of the company’s regulations, he added.
Mr Somchai told the Bangkok Post he will file a complaint with the Administrative Court next week, saying his immediate dismissal was unlawful.
He should have been given at least three days’ notice, he said.
“I was given no prior notification. But there had been signs of it previously,” Mr Somchai said.
“It’s a weird hiring contract, and no labour protection is applied. I need to seek legal means to help me,” he said. Regarding the approval of the projects, he said an internal fact-finding probe is still under way and it has not found anything so far that points to any wrongdoing.
He said he was scheduled to testify before the inquiry panel next week, but his sudden dismissal took him by surprise.
Mr Somchai said the claim by the board of governors that he endorsed four projects without their approval was a misunderstanding. The projects in question involved the auction of digital television licences in line with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s digital TV push, he said.
He sought approval of the projects in compliance with correct procedures by presenting a master plan to the board of governors for consideration as well as regularly providing the board with reports on the matter since 2013, Mr Somchai said.
The former Thai PBS boss said the reasons given by the board of governors to terminate his contract were “questionable”.
“I wonder why the contract has been terminated despite the ongoing inquiry,” he said.
He added that the digital TV auction project has been going on for almost two years, and Thai PBS’s financial records have regularly been audited by the Office of the Auditor-General.
“I and Mr Narong got along well during the past year. But the board has nine members and each of them has a different agenda,’’ Mr Somchai said.