The Democrat Party exposed that Bangkok organized over 40,000 procurement projects within one year. Anucha revealed the practice of splitting budgets below 500,000 baht to avoid bidding. Kadee pointed out suspiciously specific procurement accounting for 92% of cases, misappropriating 13 billion baht, with plans to submit findings to the Office of the Auditor General and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
At 2:00 p.m. on 17 June 2026 at the Parliament, Mr. Korn Chatikavanij, Ms. Kadee Liaopairoj, Mr. Sakolthee Phattiyakul, and Ms. Radklao Intawong Suwankiri, party-list MPs and deputy party leaders, along with Mr. Anucha Burapachaisri, a candidate for Bangkok governor, held a press conference on the results of procurement inspections via the “Song Rat” platform under the theme “Monitoring Bangkok's Procurement.” Mr. Sakolthee said this briefing arose from doubts about Bangkok's administration. Although polls show public satisfaction with its work, several media outlets harshly questioned corruption, rating it a failure. The Democrat Party team used the “Song Rat” platform to examine publicly disclosed procurement data and found behaviors raising concerns about the previous Bangkok administration’s budget management during 2025-2026, prompting questions about transparency.
Meanwhile, Ms. Kadee said alarming statistical data was found: from 43,178 projects inspected in Bangkok over one year, with a total budget of 52.38 billion baht, as much as 92.8% or 40,054 projects were procured through direct purchasing, totaling over 13.37 billion baht. By law, this method is only allowed for urgent or specific cases. However, 38,945 projects were valued below 500,000 baht, suggesting deliberate splitting of projects to avoid transparent and fair competitive bidding. Additionally, the 4 billion baht construction project for the Central Hospital Medical Center had only two bidders whose prices differed by just 1 million baht, a matter requiring thorough investigation.
Mr. Anucha said the most concerning issue is the repeated appearance of the same contractors in these subdivided projects, which could lead to prices higher than market rates due to lack of competition. Furthermore, accessing this data is very difficult; although a government agency, some information is hidden or withheld. He emphasized the need to use AI technology to systematically monitor such behaviors. He insisted this disclosure is not to discredit anyone but to protect taxpayers' money and raise awareness among Bangkok residents about improper management practices. Mr. Korn briefly added that some companies received over 500 projects in a single year.
When asked if the party would file complaints with relevant agencies upon discovering suspicious corrupt practices, Mr. Sakolthee confirmed they would. The party will continue collecting comprehensive data and submit it to appropriate organizations for investigation. They will also release further information to the public and invited the media and citizens to join a discussion panel on Friday, 19 June at 6:00 p.m. at Park Silom, where Democrat Party leader Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Mr. Korn, Dr. Kadee, Mr. Sakolthee, and Mr. Anucha will thoroughly analyze Bangkok's corruption issues.
