"Kardee" pushes the Office of the Auditor General to investigate the billion-baht "THAI Passport" project, exposing mysterious contractual bindings and possible bypassing of the "Integrity Pact" step.
On 23 Sep 2026 at the Parliament, Ms. Kardee Liao Phairoj, Democrat Party MP, held a press conference to advance the transparency investigation of the THAI Passport project worth over 1 billion baht by the National Digital Economy and Society Commission (NDEC). She submitted a complaint letter to the Auditor General requesting examination of seven key issues, revealing two main points indicating irregularities that might cause state damage.
Issue 1: Mysterious contract and unclear Generative AI payment criteria. Dr. Kardee stated that contract amendments changed the budget disbursement terms from a fixed fee to charging 24.70 baht per user per month for Generative AI services, tied to the definition of "creative users"—those enrolled in the system with accumulated scores meeting criteria set by the client.
Although the principle seems better than a fixed fee, in practice, marketing strategies push rapid registration and score accumulation, while the contract lacks clear criteria on how scores are counted or how financial differences are calculated. If the acceptance committee only verifies the contract text, it may open the door to substantial budgetary losses. Therefore, she urges the Auditor General to urgently review the user scoring criteria.
Issue 2: Ignoring procurement law by proceeding with TOR announcement despite not passing the 'Integrity Pact.' The Democrat MP outlined the project timeline to highlight procedural irregularities:
- 12 Nov 2025: NDEC received budget approval of 1.65 billion baht.
- 18 Nov 2025: NDEC applied to join the "Integrity Pact."
- 15 Dec 2025: NDEC completed the TOR draft announcement.
- 17 Dec 2025: The Subcommittee on Anti-Corruption Cooperation resolved not to select the project for the Integrity Pact because the TOR drafting step was bypassed, violating Section 18 of the Government Procurement and Supplies Management Act.
- 22 Dec 2025: The Comptroller General’s Department officially notified NDEC of the result.
- 24 Dec 2025: NDEC nevertheless proceeded to invite and publicize the TOR, even though Clause 3.16 clearly states that project bidders "must sign the Integrity Pact."
Ms. Kardee questioned why NDEC pressed ahead with the TOR despite knowing it failed the Integrity Pact selection and violated its own TOR conditions. She said the proper approach would have been to start over by drafting a new TOR and involving external observers to ensure transparency from the start, rather than rushing the project and raising suspicions.
When asked whether this was intentional concealment, Ms. Kardee said she dared not accuse intent but noted that mistakes and impacts have already occurred due to NDEC’s self-written and self-approved rules. She stressed that a billion-baht project should uphold the highest transparency standards.
"Even if the agency was not selected for the Integrity Pact, that does not absolve management of responsibility to ensure transparency," Ms. Kardee said, urging the Auditor General to expedite fact-finding and, if corruption is found, to forward the case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission for legal proceedings.