Mongkol yesterday said he had received a written instruction from Jaruvan to further probe the allegation that 232 ambulances did not meet the correct standards. He said he would appoint a panel headed by Dr Morakot Kornkasem to investigate the matter within one month.

Mongkol said he could not announce results of the investigation into the ambulance deal within two weeks as promised because there were several panels probing the allegations and he wanted to avoid mistakes.

He denied political interference had caused the delay, saying, "It is a long story. I am not able to set things straight as I wanted in the beginning because there are many knots. It is hard to finish it quickly."

Meanwhile, Jaruvan said she would go to Chiang Mai on November 2-3 to investigate corruption allegations in the Royal Flora Ratchapruek project and the Night Safari Park

Election commission : New members report progress

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday said it had approved results of local elections in 285 constituencies in the month since it took office.

EC chief Apichart said there were 46 constituencies where the EC had yet to complete its investigation but had endorsed the results anyway to meet the 30-day deadline set by the 32nd Order issued by the erstwhile Council for Democratic Reform, now the Council for National Security.

"Even though we have endorsed the results, we can issue a red card or yellow card to [the winners] within one year. We expect to take only about three months [to complete the investigations]," he said.

The EC has ordered fresh polling in 8 local constituencies and scheduled new elections in 183 local constituencies, he said.

Meanwhile, former senator Karun Saignam yesterday applied for the post of Election Commission secretary-general.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY :Democrat questions qualifications

A Democrat Party figure yesterday pointed to what he described as inconsistencies in the required qualifications for members of the National Legislative Assembly.

Thepthai Senpong, a spokesman for the Democrat Party, said that in the relevant announcement by the Council for National Security, an assembly member must have held no political-party membership or executive post over the two years before being appointed to the assembly.

He pointed out that the announcement also stated that members of the assembly should include political-party representatives, the Bangkok governor and the City Council president.

Thepthai said it was unlikely that political parties would appoint representatives who had not been members during the past two years. Both the Bangkok governor and the City Council president are Democrat members, he pointed out.