Pridiyathorn would not say if he would suspend Sirote from his official duties.

The National Counter Corrup-tion Commission should send the ministry its written allegations next week, he said. "We are now preparing for that. We have to do what the NCCC says," he said.

The NCCC ruled on Thursday that Sirote and four officials of his department were suspected of violating the criminal code by not taxing Bhanapot Damapong, the elder brother of Pojaman Shinawatra, who is the ousted prime minister's wife. Years ago, Bhanapot received millions of Shin Corp shares from Pojaman.

Pridiyathorn said he had assigned the department to study the laws that Sirote was accused of having broken and Sirote would come to meet him in the evening.  "The question is how we can ensure fairness. We need to look into the law and the ruling in detail before we can answer that. Then we can move on without having to establish an interrogation committee as someone with knowledge and someone neutral has investigated this already. However, we need to know if the accused have any right to appeal. This is the fairness that I'm talking about."

Under NCCC rules, the accused could resign or be dismissed.

Pridiyathorn would not be drawn on whether the ministry would fire Sirote.

"There's no protection. Don't worry about that. I walk straight. The NCCC has completed the procedure in looking into this matter and clearly ruled what crime [the accused] committed and how the accused should be treated ... That's clear, but as I haven't seen the indictment on paper, I don't want to say anything now. We just know that the five persons are guilty; but what are they guilty of?"