A senior justice official will face disciplinary and criminal proceedings for alleged corruption relating to a land auction in 1994, National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) member Klanarong Chantik said yesterday.

"Following its inquiry, the NCCC has found cause to suspect graft violations and abuse of office to warrant prosecution and disciplinary action against the suspect," Klanarong said.

Although he did not name the suspect, he made it clear that the alleged violations happened under the watch of Manit Suthaporn, deputy permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry, who was then deputy director-general of the Legal Execution Department. He said the NCCC would forward its report to the Office of the Attorney-General to initiate a trial while the Justice Ministry would launch a mandatory disciplinary investigation.

According to the NCCC report, the case stems from the auction of two land plots seized by the Thanyaburi Provincial Court for Bt897 million.

The auction collapsed and the court confiscated Bt70 million that the winning bidder had put up as guarantee.

After a court-sanctioned settlement among parties to the dispute, the court ordered the release of the two plots. It also instructed legal executors, including Manit, to charge the winning bidder a fee of 3.5 per cent, computed from the estimated land price.

Under the Civil Procedural Code, Manit was supposed to collect the fee plus a 5 per cent charge for organising the auction.

The fee for releasing the plots and the charge for the auction had to be deducted from the Bt70 million guarantee before returning the balance amount to the winning bidder.

The NCCC uncovered that Manit had refunded the full guarantee amount to the bidder. This happened when Manit mysteriously came into possession of 10,000 shares of a company listed on the stock market.

He subsequently earned Bt865,000 from selling of shares.

The NCCC found that Bt56.5 million of the guarantee amount was deposited in the bank account of the company linked to Manit and the other Bt13.5 million ended up in the bank account of the listed company's chairman who made the shares available to him.

The NCCC indicated when announcing the inquiry last week that many senior officials, including then justice minister Suthas Ngernmuen, might be implicated. It remains unclear whether Manit will be the sole target of graft proceedings.

Reacting to the NCCC ruling, Manit said he felt he was a victim of injustice.

"I suspect the NCCC has failed to fully examine evidence and relied heavily on a hasty conclusion drawn by a past probe that had not been vetted by the previous NCCC," he said.

He said he was authorised to return Bt70 million by the full board of 17 judges and top justice administrators supervising the legal execution.

The board decided not to levy the auction charge because the winning bidder had already paid the relevant fees worth Bt8 million, he said.

"I can honestly say that I had no idea where the Bt70 million would end up and in what accounts," he said.

In regard to his shares, he said his name was cleared after many government-appointed panels found no cause for suspicion.

He claimed his transaction was straightforward as he bought Modernform shares when the giant furniture manufacturer was not a listed company. He then sold his stake at a profit on the stock exchange.

Modernform shares were popularly traded in the stock market at the time and many justice officials, including those sitting on the legal execution board, had similar transactions to his, Manit said.

He expressed readiness to fight graft charges, saying he would not resign to escape responsibility.