The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) wants the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) to spell out legal steps which it and the Transport Ministry have to follow in paying compensation to Hopewell (Thailand) Co over the scrapping of a transport project about 20 years ago.
The project comprised Hopewell's 60-kilometre elevated railway as well as a tollway in Bangkok.
The Supreme Administrative Court on April 22 ordered the agencies to pay 11.88 billion baht, plus an interest rate of 7.5% a year, in compensation to Hopewell. The payments must be made within 180 days of the ruling.
OAG spokesman Tharam Chaleechan said SRT officials met him on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of letting the OAG act on its behalf in holding talks with various agencies to figure out what it has to do to comply with the ruling. He said the SRT officials also asked the OAG to help set out the direction and the steps the agency must take in implementing the compensation payment.
According to Mr Tharam, the government earlier set up a committee to look into the case and the Transport Ministry also asked the OAG to act as the ministry's representative on the panel.
The OAG appointed the director-general of its Department of Administrative Litigation and one of the prosecutors who handled the case in court to serve as the ministry representatives, Mr Tharam said.
Acting SRT governor Worawut Mala is due to hold talks with the OAG about the request next Wednesday, according to Mr Tharam.
The results of talks between the SRT and the OAG would be concluded and forwarded to the rail agency's board, he said.
"We still do not know about the steps that need to be taken to honour the compensation payment or where the money will come from," Mr Worawut said.
