I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH CRACKDOWN, SAYS SOMCHAI

       Former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat has denied that he ordered a violent crackdown on the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on October 7 last year.
       The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) ruled on Monday that it would file criminal charges against Somchai, then deputy premier General Chavalit Yongchaiyut, national police chief General Patcharawat Wongsuwan as well as other high-ranking police officers for malfeasance and their involvement in the crackdown.
       Two PAD protesters were killed and nearly 500 wounded when police fired teargas at them while they were protesting near Parliament and at the Metropolitan Police Bureau headquarters.
       Holding up a document on the resolution of a special Cabinet meeting on October 6 last year, Somchai said yesterday that Chavalit was the one given the responsibility of maintaining law and order after the PAD blocked the Parliament with the intention of obstructing the government's delivery of policies.
       He said the Cabinet did not order the use of violence to disperse demonstrators and that the police were just carrying out their duty in maintaining law and order.
       While the Parliament was besieged by PAD, Somchai called a special Cabinet meeting on October 6 at which it was resolved the police should help members of Parliament as well as members of the Lower House and Senate enter the building so the policy package could be presented as scheduled.
       Somchai told a press conference yesterday at the Pheu Thai Party headquarters that he believed the police and government officials on duty that day should be rewarded for a job well done rather than being punished.
       If there are similar incidents in the future, he said, the police would do nothing because they might be afraid of facing disciplinary charges later.
       As for the people wounded during the incident, the former premier said he wanted the cases to be further investigated to see how exactly they were injured.
       Somchai stressed that he had not given the police specific instructions on dealing with the protesters because his government was far too preoccupied with presenting its policy to Parliament before taking full control of the administration.
       The former PM said he was not denying his responsibility but wanted to present the truth, and that he would gather documents and information to clarify his defence and fight against his accusers.
       The NACC should investigate the crackdown against the red-shirted Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship during Songkran last year when military personnel and guns were used, but he added, no guns had been used in the crackdown on the PAD protesters.
       Somchai said he felt sorry for Patcharawat because he was facing criminal and disciplinary charges.

CP pours Bt3 bn into Vietnam

       The Charoen Pokphand Group has invested Bt3 billion for setting up a new integrated food production plant in Binh Doung, Vietnam, as part of its strategy to penetrate overseas markets. Sarasin Viraphol, the group's vice chairman, said the investment plan will include feed mill, integrated chicken business from farm to processed foods.
       In the beginning, the production will cater to the domestic market. Exports will be considered later.
       "Food production in the country has a bright future as CP Group has advanced technology for food safety standards compared with local investors," Sarasin said.
       The company said the feed mill's production capacity will achieve 600,000 tonnes per year.
       Meanwhile, pursuing its strategy of penetrating the Middle East market, the company has set up a special committee to study the possibility to increase exports to the region.
       Sarasin said economies of countries in the Middle East will grow considerably as oil prices go up.
       The market will have higher demand for food. The company aims to export fresh chicken, shrimp, and eggs to the market, he said.
       It is expected that the feasibility study will be completed in a few months so that the firm can promptly start exporting many food products to the market.
       So far, the company has signed a farming contract with Bahrain for supplying food products, he added.
       Meanwhile, Charoen Pokphand Engineering will launch an innovative palm extraction dry-processed machine for farmers.
       Nared Chin-Inmanu, assistant vice president of the company, said that it will be the first machine that has high efficiency to extract palm fruits with a lower percentage of crude palm-oil loss. The machine will be sold for Bt4.5 million with a production capacity of 1.5 tonnes of palm fruits per hour. The firm is expected to sell about 10 machines this year.
       Nared said that the higher oil price will encourage farmers to grow more palm fruits next year. The plantation area for palm fruits will increase from 3 million rai to 3.5 million rai next year.
       The new palm-oil extraction machinery will help promote the growth of the alternative fuel industry, he said.

Upbeat Hana unveils investment

       Hana Microelectronics will invest US$10 million (Bt340 million) to purchase new machines for testing and tracing IC packaging and also plans to spend around Bt120 million purchasing new lands for capacity expansion.
       Vice chairman Issra Sivakul said yesterday that the investment budget for machinery purchase at its Ayutthaya plant is to increase the ability of IC packaging in line with a rebound in demand.
       He said the company will also look for a land plot to construct a new plant for manufacturing microelectronics products. The production capacity at its Lamphun plant is nearly full. The company is preparing to expand production capacity.
       "We have set a budget of Bt120 million for purchasing land. The location will be near the existing plant in Lamphun," he added.
       Microelectronic products represent 50 per cent of total capacity.
       The company also plans to move all production lines in Bangkok to Lamphun and Ayutthaya after the rental contract in Bangkok expires in the next two year, he said.
       The production lines in Bangkok are custom products group division, light emitting diodes, auto light emitting diodes and hybrid devices.
       Issara said the recession in the electronics industry may be over and the performance of Hana in the second half would be better than the first half as orders start to pour in.
       However, its revenue and profit would not be comparable with its achievement two years ago because the current economic trend had forced manufacturers to reduce prices to secure market share and woo more clients.
       Hana posted its highest profit of Bt2.44 billion in 2007. He said the company had adjusted its strategy to cope with the current economy by reducing prices, increasing productivity by 10 per cent in each plant and controlling costs.
       "Earlier, the company had forecast that its revenue will drop by 30 per cent year on year but with our strategies, we believe our revenue this year would drop only 20 per cent," he said.
       Hana recorded revenue of Bt15.51 billion last year.