A panel appointed by Thailand's coup leaders will take over investigations into alleged corruption by ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his cabinet, which could lead to asset seizures and political bans.
Auditor-General Jaruwan Maintaka, who had promised results in some existing investigations by the end of this month, said today she had handed over her findings so far to the panel the military appointed less than a week after taking power.
"I was asked by the coup leaders the other day if I would be upset if the new probe panel would take over the probes being worked out by my office," she told reporters.
"I said no because we are all working for the benefit of the country," said Ms Jaruwan, a member of the new eight-member panel.
She gave no indication of how long it would take to complete investigations which could result in Mr Thaksin and other cabinet members being barred from political office for five years.
The investigations already under way began in February when Ms Jaruwan won a long political battle to stay in a job from which she had been suspended.
Former policeman Mr Thaksin, was a billionaire before entering politics and is being investigated over the legality of he and his family failure to pay tax on their €1.5 billion sale of Shin Corp.
Other allegations of tax evasion are being investigated along with the government's purchase of US bomb scanners for Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi airport.
Earlier, the military gave more details of its plan to hand over to a civilian prime minister within two weeks.
The new prime minister would be named once an interim constitution was agreed later this week and the coup leaders would become a National Security Council, General Winai Phattiyakul said.
"We are not the prime minister's boss and the prime minister is not our boss," said Winai, a senior member of the military council that ousted Thaksin last Tuesday.
"We will assist the next government in looking after the country, to sustain the economic and social stability," he said.
The military would appoint a legislative council of an initial 2,000 people to draw a new constitution. The body would reduce itself to about 200 and take about six months to complete the constitution, which would be subject to final approval by the military.
The constitution would be put to a referendum before elections were held, a process which might take about eight months from now and the generals would return to barracks only after the election, Gen Winai said.
