"The committee has two months to complete its investigation," caretaker Deputy Interior Minister Sermsak Pongpanit said.

Seripisut has an outstanding record of crime suppression activities, including crackdowns on gambling dens.

Among the fact-finding committee's eight other members are Assoc Prof Pornchai Sunthornphan, the dean of Assumption University's Faculty of Law; and Assoc Prof Weerapong Boonyopas, head of Chulalongkorn University's Criminal Law and Criminology Department, Sermsak said.

"Our committee's investigation will focus on the deal price and the repeated issuing

and cancelling of letters of credit," Sermsak said.

He denied suggestions that the investigation was redundant as the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has already completed a probe into the deal.

"The DSI has to forward the case to the National Counter Corruption Commission [NCCC], which is now in a state of limbo. So, we believe we should establish a fact-finding committee," Sermsak said.

The process of filling the vacant NCCC seats is ongoing.

In a related development, Democrat Party spokesman Yuthapong Jaras-sathien said he had yet to receive a response from the Austrian embassy after submitting a letter last week asking the Austrian government to investigate the dubious deal.

According to the DSI, the deal price is at least a few billion baht higher than the market price.

The deal started with a government-to-government Agreement of Understanding (AoU) but it was the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) that signed the purchase contract, based on the AoU, with the Austrian supplier.

The fire-fighting equipment acquired under the deal was destined for the BMA's Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department.

The DSI concluded that at least seven incumbent and former high-ranking officials were involved in malfeasance relating to the deal.