After a ten-year investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has decided to drop the alleged corruption case against the former CEO of PTT Exploration and Production and 15 other executives of the company and its subsidiaries over oil palm plantation and palm oil projects in Indonesia, worth about 20 billion baht.
Those implicated in the case, which was brought to the attention of the NACC by PTT in 2015, included Nipit Isarangkun Na Ayudhya, former CEO of PTT Exploration and Production and acting CEO of PTT Green Energy, Pichai Chunhavajira, Phiphat Suwannachot, Surong Bulakul, Prasert Boonsamphan, Wasu Klomkliang, Pranon Laohaphan, Chitrapong Kwangsuksathit, Peerachat Wichakhana, Thanakorn Nanthee, Watcharin Sutthiprapha, Thakrit Promdecha, Chet Chaiwongphinit, Nancy Martasuta, Thanipa Puangchampa and Noppadol Kongsarai.
Separately, PTT and PTT Green Energy filed lawsuits in the Civil Court in 2015, demanding about 20 billion baht in compensation from Nipit, who was dismissed by the board of PTT in June 2014.
According to PTT, the investment projects in oil palm plantation and palm oil production had sustained continuous losses since 2007, due to mismanagement and suspected corruption. Subsequently, the company decided to shut the operations down and sell the oil palm plantations.
PTT had hired Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos, a subsidiary of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu auditing company, to conduct an internal audit of the PTT Green Energy’s operations in Indonesia. It was discovered that about US$34 million had been spent as “commission” for the procurement of 40,500 hectares of land for the oil palm plantations.
According to PTT Green Energy, the price of the land, totalling 78,877 hectares, was estimated at US$52.62 million.
