NCCC lists four top graft cases
Four major schemes implemented by the government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra top the list for investigation by the newly appointed national anti-graft agency, its chairman said yesterday.
"As there are more than 11,000 cases queued up in our files, we'll give priority to those which caused most damage to the country," Panthep Klanarongran told reporters after the first meeting of the nine National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) members, which lasted six hours. "I believe we have enough evidence to axe the wrongdoers," he said. The four priority cases relate to the Klong Dan waste-water treatment plant, the dried longan price intervention scheme, the Bang Na-Bang Pli-Bang Pakong expressway and the sale of government rice. The NCCC has long been investigating the Klong Dan project, in which national politicians and senior government officials are believed to have colluded to falsify land records in order to sell public land for the plant. There have also been complaints of corruption against the management and of pollution caused by the plant in nearby communities in Samut Prakan province. The investigation into the longan price intervention scheme arises from a complaint to the NCCC last year by a former police inspector-general against 38 people, including state officials, local politicians and businessmen. The Bang Na-Bang Pli-Bang Pakong expressway scandal followed a civil court ruling in 2002 that asked the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority to pay a Bt6.2-billion fine to the BBCD group for a delay in handing over land for the construction of the expressway. Politicians in both the government and the opposition during Thaksin's reign are alleged to be involved. The rice scam came to light after the opposition linked the deal to the Thaksin government in a censure debate in 2003. It alleged that the decision to award an export quota for government stockpiled rice to a mystery, low-capital company based in Panama benefited relatives of government insiders. Panthep said the NCCC would apply a new strategy to deal with the more than 11,000 pending cases in order to become more effective. He said more than 5,000 cases would be returned to the government departments to which the accused officials belonged so that they could launch their own investigations and decide the punishments. More than 2,800 other cases will be soon declared invalid because investigations had produced no evidence to support the graft allegations, Panthep said.
Weerayut Chokchaimadon
The Nation
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