They will be summoned to hear charges of an alleged sell-off of national assets after the 1997 economic meltdown by auctioning bankrupt financial institutions.

After a three-hour meeting of investigators yesterday, DSI officials said at a press conference that they would look into the legal terms and the motivation of the auction of FRA assets.

The DSI claimed it had found that corporate entities which had bought the assets at the FRA auction had not only made a profit of more than Bt10 billion but also evaded tax of Bt3 billion.

However, they did not disclose details of the case or the people they planned to file charges against.

Pol Captain Thawee Sodsong, the DSI deputy director-general, said investigators had called 110 witnesses and examined a number of related documents before reaching their conclusion.

"The investigators have solid evidence to back up their claim that at one point during the seven auctions of residential projects worth Bt24.616 billion, a bidder's offer of 60 per cent of the asset price was ignored while the winning bid offered only 46 per cent of the asset price, or about Bt11.52 billion," he said.

Vitch Jirapaet, a specialist prosecutor, said the FRA had auctioned assets worth Bt85 billion and investigators had found solid evidence of irregularities only in the sale of assets worth Bt24 billion.

He said the case would be a benchmark for other FRA cases.

On November 15 the investigating officials will meet to decide who will be summoned to hear the charges.

"The evidence showed that the corporate entities had put in low but winning bids at the FRA auction and subsequently managed to make profits of more than Bt10 billion by selling the assets. They were also supposed to have paid tax at 30 per cent on profits from the sale, which would have been Bt3 billion," Thawee added.

He said the DSI would sue several corporate entities and persons for conspiring to effect unfair practices. Thawee added that the case involved several big companies and some FRA board members.

The DSI officials will have to put the evidence and the documents before Justice Minister Charnchai Likhitjittha and Justice Charun Pakdeethanakul before proceeding against the alleged parties.

DSI deputy director-general Nathasak Poolsuk said the agency planned to sue the suspects for negligence or malfeasance by giving unfair advantage to a group of people at the expense of the country and for enabling the buyers to evade tax.

The investigation began several years ago after the Thai Rak Thai Party complained to the DSI that the auctioning off of bankrupt financial institutions after the 1997 economic meltdown under a Democrat-led government had been a sell-off of national assets.

Twenty Thai Rak Thai MPs led by party executive member Veera Musikaphong claimed that the auction of 56 defunct finance firms by the FRA had led to a loss of Bt600 billion.