Kaewsan Atibhodi, a member of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), said in an interview with The Nation last week he could not guarantee that any of Thaksin's wealth would be touched.

"Forget about the asset seizure," he said. "My job is to bring out the truth, not to find victims to serve society's desires."

Only a "dinosaur-period style" military coup would kick out a ruling government and set up a probe panel to seize assets of allegedly corrupt politicians, he said.

"We'll reveal the evil process of corruption to the public. But it is another matter if we can end up catching the culprits in the end."

But did not the junta create the AEC to pave the way for eventual seizure of Thaksin's and his ministers' assets in order to support the legitimacy of its leaders, who claimed that serious graft scandals gave them no choice but to send their tanks into the streets?

"If you don't regard the AEC as part of the 'justice' system, our conversation should stop at this point," Kaewsan said, giving an ultimatum to The Nation reporters while arguing that the AEC was not a puppet of the new government.

Shortly after the coup, junta leaders - later renamed the Council for National Security (CNS) - created the AEC to scrutinise controversial schemes under the Thaksin government allegedly linked to abuse of power and draining the state's coffers.

The outspoken Kaewsan, a former elected senator, did not doubt the sincerity of the CNS leaders, who he said gave his panel full power to probe irregularities involving the Thaksin administration.

Kaewsan insisted the military junta differed from many of its predecessors in that it had taken a good initiative to solve a national crisis.

The AEC would gather as much evidence as it could before passing it to the Criminal Court to rule against the miscreants, he said.

The 12 graft scandals being handled by the AEC include the CTX bomb scanner purchase, the airport link project of the State Railway of Thailand, the airport duty-free concession, the installation of the airport pipeline system, the airport security contract and the tax-free Shin Corp-Temasek deal.

Do any of the CNS leaders or 10 other AEC members share Kaewsan's philosophy that Thaksin should not face asset seizure if no solid evidence is found?

"Well, I cannot speak for the others," he replied. "I just do my job. That's it."

His stand has contradicted AEC member Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, the auditor-general and bitter enemy of Thaksin who has succeeded in lobbying the CNS to give the scrutiny panel more teeth to bite corrupt politicians.

The panel is allowed to freeze or seize assets of those suspected of graft. This new power is believed to target Bt73 billion of Thaksin's family wealth received from the sale of Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

Kaewsan's failure to confirm that the asset seizure would take place echoes The Nation's interview three weeks ago with CNS chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, in which he admitted no solid evidence had been uncovered to link Thaksin to major corruption cases.

State corruption was a primary reason given for toppling the Thaksin government. The AEC and National Counter Corruption Commission have failed to charge anyone so far.

With no clear progress, the public and activist groups have begun to criticise the CNS for failing to justify the coup.

"The AEC has done a lot of work, but we have not informed the public because it would violate the law concerning the investigation," Kaewsan said.

When the AEC submits investigative reports on the 12 cases to the court, it will be real progress, he added.

Weerayut Chokchaimadon,

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan,

Kittipong Thavevong

The Nation