Thai anti-graft commission to focus on politicians

THAILAND: The head of Thailand's post-coup anti-graft body said Monday before the commission's first meeting that investigations would focus on alleged corruption by the country's ousted political elite.

But Panthep Klanarongran, head of the newly-appointed National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), warned that members had a backlog of 10,000 cases to tackle, some pre-dating the era of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

"We will focus on corruption cases involving politicians, cases which will nearly expire and the high-profile cases from a backlog of more than 10,000," Panthep told reporters gathering ahead of the NCCC's first meeting.

"We have to work out how many complaints are related to politicians and how many to government officials," he said.

Three separate bodies will investigate alleged corruption, as the country's new junta has made the issue its priority following Tuesday's coup and ousting of the controversial Thaksin.

The junta cited corruption as one of the reasons why it seized power last week in the country's first putsch for 15 years, and the anti-graft bodies appear to be zeroing in on Thaksin's former administration.

The NCCC, set up under the scrapped 1997 constitution, halted its work in October 2004 because of a probe into the illegal raising of salaries by members of the commission.

The nine resigned the following May and a new team was named as one of the first acts of the military leadership after Tuesday's coup.

Earlier, Thailand's military leaders tightened the screws on the ousted government of Thaksin Shinawatra after ordering a series of corruption probes and warning it would seize ill-gotten gains.

The junta that sent tanks into Bangkok last week to depose the divisive billionaire-premier set up a high-powered committee late Sunday to look into the books and tax records of Thaksin cabinet members and their relatives.

The top brass said it believed some of the ministers had "abused their powers and caused damage to the whole country", warning authorities would probe those who have "suspiciously large assets, and their spouses and children".The junta said the new committee "has the power to seize assets for investigation and put the assets on sale".

It has not ordered any assets of former top leaders to be frozen but warned it would consider attempts to hide or transfer illicit funds as "wrongdoing".

Thaksin a former telecoms tycoon whose wealth was recently estimated at more than two billion dollars by Forbes magazine has taken refuge in a luxury hotel in London, but several of his relatives remain in Thailand.

The deputy leader of his Thai Rak Thai party, Sudarat Keyuraphan, returned to Thailand from Europe on Sunday, saying she would cooperate with a probe into her wealth, according to Thai newspaper reports.

Auditor General Jaruvan Maintaka has said she hopes to soon conclude a probe into possible irregularities in the sale of bomb scanners for Bangkok's new three-billion-dollar Suvarnabhumi airport, which is due to open Thursday.

She said she would then tackle nine other cases of alleged irregularities, including claims involving an airport train link project, lottery revenues and tsunami aid.

Another focus will be Thaksin's January sale of his family's telecom empire to a Singapore state company for a tax-free 1.9 billion dollars, the scandal which triggered the months of turmoil that led up to the coup.

Bangkok, Monday, AFP