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Monday June 30, 4:07 PMCorruption Lawsuits Filed Against Thai Political FiguresBANGKOK, June 30 Asia Pulse - Thailand's graft-busting Assets Examination Committee (AEC), an agency set up after the bloodless coup d'etat which toppled the elected government of the prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2006, filed only four lawsuits against persons with political status prior to its mandate expiring today.AEC secretary general Kaewsan Atibodhi told journalists Sunday the agency will formally hand over its still pending work for further investigation to the Office of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) on Monday - the last day the AEC is still officially functioning. During the AEC's tenure over the past 21 months, the agency had conducted investigations into 24 cases and were able to file four lawsuits against persons with political status, Mr Kaewsan said The four lawsuits are for a land purchase in Bangkok's prime business area by Mr Thaksin's wife, the initiation of a two- and three-digit lottery by Mr Thaksin's government, the purchase of 90 million rubber saplings worth Bt1.44 billion (US$43 million) by the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, and a Bt4 billion Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Bank) loan provided to the government of Myanmar. The EXIM Bank loan was described as being provided to the Myanmar government for telecommunications development in return for the purchase of telecom equipment from Shin Satellite, a subsidiary of Shin Corp, then owned by Mr. Thaksin's family. Seven cases with completed investigations are now being considered by the Attorney-General's office, Mr Kaewsan said. Two cases which have not yet been concluded by the AEC are being sent to the NCCC for further investigation. These include Mr Thaksin's purchase of Britain's Manchester City football club as the anti-graft agency probed the provenance of the ousted prime minister's funds used to procure the football club. Asked whether the AEC was satisfied with its work as only four suits against persons with political status have actually been sent to court, Mr Kaewsan said the success of AEC did not depend on cases that it investigated but from solving cases justly. "The success of the AEC [now] hinges upon the court. The AEC is not an agency which could point an accusing finger at any other agency," Mr Kaewsan said. (TNA) |
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