Jaruvan spurns advisory team
Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka has refused to act upon a move to help appoint an advisory team to the State Audit Commission, saying the Office of the Auditor-General wants to work only with advisers who are neutral.
Jaruvan said the OAG would not send representatives to join a panel that would appoint members of the advisory team. "If the team's advisers are not neutral, we cannot work with them,'' she said.State Audit Commission board member Kriangsak Watana said yesterday the advisory team had not yet been appointed because the OAG had failed to send representatives to take part. Kriangsak said the idea to appoint the advisory team arose from the fact that many decisions by the State Audit Commission could lead to court battles, and the commission wanted to play safe by having advisers who were specialists on various issues. The move to appoint the advisers gave rise to speculation the government wants to tamper with investigations into tax payments arising from the sale of Shin Corp. Media reports have suggested Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra, the children of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, should have paid up to Bt4 billion in tax from the sale of shares in Shin Corp outside the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
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