Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula will propose that the Cabinet reshuffle departmental officials who are believed to have provided special treatment for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government.

This might result in the removal of Sirote Swasdipanich, director-general of the Revenue Department, and Boonsak Jiampreecha, director-general of the Comptroller General's Department.

Pridiyathorn said he would propose the reshuffle to the Cabinet at a meeting next week, but he declined to reveal who might be transferred.

Speculation ran wild that Sirote and Boonsak would be the targets, because of their departments' dealing with scandals surrounding the previous government.

Sirote and other senior tax officials have been investigated by the Office of the Auditor-General and the Asset Examination Committee on allegations of negligence, as they did not require the Shinawatra family to pay tax from the sell-off of Shin Corp's empire to Temasek Holdings of Singapore.

Sirote is expected to be transferred to an inactive post as a deputy permanent secretary, pending the investigation.

Boonsak is expected to be removed from his post, having allegedly done favours for politicians accused of involvement in the CTX bomb-detector affair.

Naris Chaiyasoot, former director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office, is also expected to be transferred. He has been seen as a close aide to politicians of the past government.

Pridiyathorn said he had informally appointed former permanent secretary for finance Aran Tammano as his adviser.

Aran was the chief bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry between 1993 and 1995, during which time he set strict requirements for tax payment on share acquisitions.

The move is seen as the ministry's attempt to clean up the scandal arising from its failure to collect tax from the Shinawatra family on the Shin-Temasek deal.

Officials at the Finance Ministry view Aran as well versed in fiscal matters, even though he is seen by some critics as too conservative.

Aran does not want to be formally appointed as Pridiyathorn's adviser but has accepted the minister's invitation to be his adviser on fiscal matters at the Finance Ministry, said an informed source.

Pridiyathorn so far has not made a public statement about such an adviser, saying that he only has one.

Former central-bank governor Pridiyathorn conceded he was not keen on fiscal matters relating to the tax system.

He said he would give Suparut Kawatkul and other directors-general a free hand to propose tax reform.

Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation