Phetsamone Phommuny

(KPL) Six of the winning bidders for fourteen leaders’ former cars have already paid and taken their cars, while the payments are determined to be completed today (March 7), according to relevant authority.

An authority said that the bidding winners that have not paid within seven days of their bid will be fined an additional 10% of car bidding value.

The bids on the fourteen leaders’ cars fetched 11.6 billion kip (over US$1.4 million).

“It was assumed that all winning bidders would pay in a timely manner,” he said. 

 “Six cars have been paid for including four BMW Series 7/730li models and two Mercedes Benz S350 models,” an authority told KPL News on March 6.

This was the first ever auction of leaders’ cars and was held on February 28 at the National Convention Centre, Vientiane Capital.

The cars on auction comprised seven BMW Series 7/730li models and seven Mercedes Benz S350 models. The starting bid for all BMW Series 7/730li was set at 830 million kip (US$102,000) and 500 million kip (US$62,000) was the starting bid for all Mercedes Benz S350 models.

The auction was only the first batch of cars withdrawn from leaders at level I and level II categories.

The level-I leaders include the President, Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly, the Secretary General of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and other members of the Politburo. The level-II leaders comprise the Secretary of the Party Central Committee, the Vice President, Vice President of the National Assembly, and Deputy Prime Minister.

KPL