AEC moves against wayward officials
The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) will today seek the transfer of several key bureaucrats who failed to cooperate in taking action against politicians implicated in the 13 corruption cases it is investigating.
The transfers are intended to ensure witnesses do not retract their statements in court. AEC spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said the committee would meet Council for National Security (CNS) chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and perhaps Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont. The AEC earlier complained to Surayud about lack of cooperation from some state officials who refused to file complaints with the AEC against former political office holders allegedly involved in graft. The committee said this had delayed prosecutions. The AEC is concerned delays stretching to the general election could see former leaders back in power and witnesses recanting their statements. "Officials under the old power group are still in their positions. They are directly involved in cases but have not been transferred out of key posts. They do not cooperate fearing they may be punished, too. "The government must consider their transfer so our work can move forward efficiently,'' Sak said. An AEC subcommittee investigating graft in a rubber-sapling programme said yesterday that the Office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (ORRAF) failed to lodge a complaint on Friday against any former political office holder. Chairman Banjerd Singkaneti said the AEC had hoped to commence a panel investigation into the project today but had been forced to delay this because ORRAF had not accused any politician of wrongdoing. The AEC will push the government to accept anti-corruption policy as a national agenda to reduce the burden on the National Counter Corruption Commission and the AEC. It will seek a joint news conference with the CNS to report progress of corruption probes. Meanwhile, an AEC source said it would use "other tax regulations" to force former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's daughter Pinthongta to pay more than Bt2 billion in personal income tax on the sale of Shin Corp shares even though she was in the country for fewer than 180 days. Authorities earlier suggested Pinthongta could avoid paying tax on the proceeds of her share sales because she resided in Thailand for fewer than 180 days in 2006. Shin Corp was sold to Temasek Holdings of Singapore last year. It is now believed other regulations can be applied to include Pinthongta's transaction in the tax net.
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