Examinations of accounts with deposits of more than Bt10 million should be "mandatory" to uncover how money was acquired, the central bank's top prosecutor told a seminar yesterday.

Weerachart Sribunma, director of the BOT's Litigation Department, believed bank employees were signing their own names on deposit slips instead of having customers do it.

They feared the multi-step, time-consuming mandatory examination of large deposits would drive customers to other banks.

Many banks decided not to examine big accounts or simply not to report transactions in excess of Bt2 million - a BOT regulation imposed several months ago, Weerachart told the AMLO advance-planning seminar.

Officials from other agencies insisted AMLO impose stricter regulations to tackle crime,

corruption and money laundering.

Weerachart advised AMLO to get tougher on banks or impose new mechanisms for investigating large transactions.

He said some unreported transactions had been as large as Bt1 billion. Social activist Weera Somkwamkid demanded AMLO conduct its duty impartially. He said the public viewed AMLO as a servant of those in power, citing incidents perceived as deliberate negligence - including the airport bomb-scanner scandal.

Senior AMLO official Suwanee Sawaengphol said the office was concentrating on the seizure of assets of human traffickers. 

Piyanuch  Thamnukasetchai

The Nation