THAILAND: A counter-corruption commission revived by Thailand's new military rulers began working yesterday on the more than 10,000 allegations of graft under the regime of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.
The commission, which Mr Thaksin abolished several years ago, announced that former government members would have 30 days to declare their assets, and warned against expecting rapid results. "[ We're facing] tons of documents and 10,000 unresolved cases," a spokesman said yesterday.
A new and more powerful investigative panel charged with probing members of Mr Thaksin's family and inner circle will meet for the first time tomorrow. It will be allowed to freeze and confiscate assets in cases of suspected wrongdoing.
The junta, which seized power in a bloodless coup last Tuesday while Mr Thaksin was in New York at the UN General Assembly, has made fighting corruption its top priority along with rewriting the constitution to prevent the kinds of abuses of which Mr Thaksin is accused.
"There is sufficient evidence to believe that [ members of the former government] abused their power to reap benefits for their personal gain, and caused serious damage to the country," the military said in a late-night television announcement on Sunday that interrupted programming.
One of the first cases is the allegedly shady purchase of scanner equipment for Bangkok's new airport, which opens on Thursday, and construction equipment for the transport links to the capital. Auditor general Jaruvan Maintaka said yesterday her report on the deals would be submitted within days. She predicted that up to nine people would be charged.
The head of the new panel, Sawat Chotiphanit, said all senior politicians would be investigated. "If we find evidence they tried to transfer their assets overseas we will freeze the assets." Speculation has been rife that Mr Thaksin and his family tried to smuggle assets abroad earlier this month.