"If there was solid evidence showing that Thaksin had influenced or facilitated or conspired on behalf of his wife to win the auction for the land plot offered by the state's Financial Institute Development Fund, then the ex-premier would be guilty under Section 157 of the Criminal Code.

"If found guilty of abuse of power, under this section he could face imprisonment of one to 10 years or a fine of Bt2,000-20,000 or both," said the judge.

AEC chairman Nam Yimyam said yesterday that the controversial land deal was an obvious conflict of interest, causing damage to the public interest.

According to Nam, the title deeds for the Bangkok plot were transferred to Khunying Pojaman on December 31, 2003 - just before the Thaksin government raised the official land reference price for taxation by 20 per cent.

As a result, an estimated Bt154 million in taxes and fees were avoided.

Nam said the AEC would put together a solid case for the court to make the final judgement.

Meanwhile, Alongkorn Polbutr, a deputy leader of the Democrat party, said the AEC should set up two additional sub-committees to focus on "policy corruption" and corruption involving Suvarnabhumi Airport projects.

"Unlike general corruption, so-called policy corruption is far more complicated, and the AEC would need authority under several laws in order to be effective.

"These laws include state procurement legislation, National Counter Corruption legislation, Office of the Auditor-General law, Anti-Money Laundering legislation and [violations of] criminal and civil and commercial codes," said Alongkorn.

According to the former MP, policy corruption cases during the terms of the Thaksin governments included the reduction of iTV concession fees, tax breaks for ShinSat Plc and an Exim Bank loan for Burma.