Activist Srisuwan Janya said he will petition the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to look into the army's hiring of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) for 7.5 million baht to examine fraudulent bomb detectors purchased years ago.
Mr Srisuwan, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, on Saturday on Facebook said the procurement of GT200 detectors reflects poor budget planning that lacked proper scrutiny.
"It is time to ask the NACC to investigate the matter," he said.
The issue was raised by Jirat Thongsuwan, Move Forward Party MP for Chachoengsao, during the deliberation of the 2023 budget bill in parliament on Thursday.
At least 15 agencies were duped into buying 1,398 bogus remote substance detectors worth more than 1.13 billion baht from United Kingdom-based Global Technical Ltd between 2005 and 2010.
He said the army awarded the NSTDA a 7.5-million-baht contract in March to examine a total of 757 GT200 bomb detectors purchased for about 10,000 baht each.
The spending did not appear in the Defence Ministry's budget document, Mr Jirat said.
Previous inspections of the GT200 devices found that each consisted of two stiff plastic pieces and did not contain any electronic components, he said.
He said he asked for details of the contract from the army and the NSTDA but they said the information was classified.
On Friday, Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich said the army has filed a lawsuit against a distributor and the Central Administrative Court ordered the company to pay 683 million baht in compensation.
The company then appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, he said. The Attorney-General's office then recommended that each device be examined, he said.
The outcome of the examination will be used as evidence in the lawsuit, Gen Kongcheep said.
"Therefore, the examination was [important] to the case," he said.
Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, head of the Seri Ruam Thai Party's policy steering committee, on Facebook said the distributor may vanish into thin air before the lawsuit can make progress in court.
He said the NACC should take up the case and investigate the matter before taking action against former officials involved in the procurement of the devices.
The Thai army was the biggest buyer of the GT200s, which were claimed to also be capable of detecting drugs and other substances.
In August 2013, British businessman Gary Bolton, owner of Global Technical, was sentenced by a UK court to seven years in jail on charges of fraud relating to the sale of the devices.
In June 2016, a UK court ordered compensation to be paid to affected countries from forfeited assets worth 340 million baht belonging to James McCormick, who was serving a 10-year jail term for selling a similar bogus device.
