What's more, former Thai Rak Thai Party members are talking about forming a new party to retake control of the government through elections.

These movements do not bode well for public expectations that the military coup will usher us towards a better platform for democratic development so there will not be any need for another change of government by force.

There was a working lunch, sort of, for former TRT hotshots who talked about pooling financial resources to create a new party with provincial and grass-roots supporters who might fall easy prey to big money and pork-barrel politics.

They have yet to pay dearly for their previous sins in supporting Thaksin Shinawatra, who wreaked havoc on the country's political, economic and social structure, particularly on its moral fabric and its sense of right and wrong.

These ex-TRT leaders are walking freely with consciences undisturbed by the fact that they have been part and parcel to massive corruption, cronyism, abuse of power and other mischief-making, with this period of the country's history going down as one suffering from unprecedented graft.

The statements of assets from ex-Cabinet members were an insult to the public and also a challenge to the ability of investigators to track down hidden wealth amassed through all sorts of corrupt schemes.

With Thaksin showing only half a billion in assets and his wife with just Bt12 billion, the couple look more like paupers compared with their legendary flair for enriching themselves through business during the past decade.

If they have only that much, then it was a serious error on the part of international magazines that put them shoulder to shoulder with the world's billionaires. But even with that kind of money they might be able to survive long enough during their forced exile in London, though we shall lie awake at nights worrying whether they have enough money to buy fish and chips next year.

Roast duck at Chinese restaurants in Bayswater may be beyond their reach soon enough. If it's not a question of money, there's also the possible embarrassment in being booed and jeered by Thais living in London, which they recently experienced.

What's the reaction of the junta and the Surayud government after looking at the asset figures of Thaksin and his wife? If they have only that much, then the government will have to explain how it overestimated their wealth and its claim of corruption in the Thaksin administration.

The reason for staging the coup, to get rid of corrupt politicians, would no longer hold water. Other former Cabinet members look very poor compared. The wild talk about their pursuit of wealth through unsavoury means would sound ludicrous. Instead of being villains, they may appear like men on high moral ground.

On the other hand, we can deal with the figures they presented to the Counter Corruption Commission. If they claim they are really that rich, then any assets in addition to what they reported to the CCC, either locally or stashed in safe havens, don't belong to them. If more assets are found anywhere else they can be confiscated and sent to the government coffers.

What the government can do next, if it really means business and intends to track down plundered national assets, is exercise the anti-money laundering law with international cooperation to freeze any assets found in the names of former Cabinet members, their nominees, trustees or others, making impossible movements or transfers.

To ensure efficiency in investigations and tracking, the government can offer a reward: let's say 25 per cent of the total found and successfully confiscated for the national coffers. It is better to provide incentives to trackers than give them nothing.

International financial trackers have a pretty good idea where our crooked politicians have hidden their stolen wealth. With their vast connections, tips and clues could be provided to trackers, who could then share the rewards.

If the total plundered assets are in the tens of billions of dollars, as widely perceived, the total reward would surely be very tempting. After confiscation, the owners would have no right to reclaim their assets because they were not theirs in the first place.

There is every reason and justification for the government to do this, because the former Cabinet members claim to have only what they have reported to the CCC. Any other assets do not belong to them.

If these disgraced politicians have no access to the assets, they will not be able to finance a comeback. Big-money politics needs big investment, in the billions of baht during each general election, to ensure victory over rival parties.

If the crooked politicians get away with plundered assets, the junta and the government will not be safe from public criticism and disappointment over their lukewarm attempt to take action through a freeze of assets under the anti-money laundering law.

So far there has been no clear explanation why the government is not taking that path. It is either by design or oversight, and the failure to enforce such measures will surely pave the way for the return of the political miscreants to take what they did not have time to plunder before they were booted out by the junta.

 Sopon Onkgara