File Photo of Thai Police on duty. (Reuters)
Bangkok's influential governor is being probed over a $1.1 million New Year light show, a state auditor said Wednesday, the latest graft scandal amid a junta effort to root out corruption.
Sukhumbhand Paribatra, a distant relative of Thailand's respected royal family, has been criticised in recent months over a string of shady deals made by his administration.
He and seven other senior city officials now stand accused of colluding with a private company they hired to set up a pricey light display outside city hall in December 2015.
The contractor was a tour agency that did not have any experience in lighting, said Pisit Leelavachiropas, Thailand's auditor general.
His office also slammed the governor for pulling money from an emergency budget to fund the display of 5 million LED bulbs.
"We are confident that the evidence is concrete enough to take [legal] action against him," Pisit told AFP, adding that he has urged the national anti-corruption body to file criminal charges.
Thailand's junta has vowed to clear the kingdom of corruption since coming to power two years ago, despite facing several graft scandals of its own including allegations that a military-built park was riddled with kickbacks.
It has also severely restrained free speech and jailed critics who have accused the regime of corruption.
The two-term governor denied the graft allegations Wednesday and defended the light installation, saying it attracted tourists and brought some 10 million baht to local food vendors and shopkeepers.
"I followed the rules and regulations," he told Channel 3.
In recent months fellow Democrat politicians have sought to distance themselves from Sukhumbhand, who has shied from the press as his popularity sinks among Bangkokians.
The pro-establishment Democrats are traditional allies of the royalist military, which seized power in 2014 after it toppled the opposition Puea Thai Party backed by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
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