In a bribery scandal reminiscent of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra's asset concealment case, Watana handled his illicit funds via an uncanny list of accomplices including a maid, a typist and a driver.

"Watana and his accomplices are implicated in the abuse of power and received kickbacks in the Ua Arthorn Project I," Kaewsan Atibhodi said yesterday, emerging from a meeting of  the Assets Examination Committee.

Kaewsan is AEC secretary and chairman of the Ua Arthorn investigative panel.

Of 348 construction contracts under the housing project, the investigative panel uncovered irregularities involving Watana on the deal awarded to contractor Pastiya, a Thai-Malaysian joint venture, Kaewsan said.

The bribery involving Watana is the tip of an iceberg as the probe is still in progress for 46 more cases of suspected manipulations of land prices stemming from the housing project, he said.

The money route for the bribes involved the contractor and a rice-trading company linked to Watana, which helped him to launder the illicit funds via its low-ranking employees, he said.

Based on the investigative report, the AEC will launch a hearing to allow the defence to rebut charges before moving to the prosecution stage, he said.

The suspects will also be targeted for a further probe on money laundering stemming from the bribery, he said. It was found that Watana had control over the awarding of construction deals.

Testimonies from witnesses revealed that ministerial intervention had rigged the bidding to favour Pastiya, he said.

Checks on the money route indicate that the contractor's advance payments were diverted as commission fees for officials and not used for project expenses, he said.

The contractor's accounting employees and its account records confirmed that bribes were paid to Watana, he said.

The bribes were deposited in banking accounts of a company and its subsidiaries seen as close to Watana since he held the commerce portfolio, he said.

Watana's alleged offences include abuse of power and demanding and accepting bribes.

Mana Wongpipat, a former board member of the National Housing Authority, is also being accused of abuse of power for assisting Watana to rig the bid to favour Pastiya.

Pastiya's one Thai and three Malaysian executives will also be indicted for bribery payments.

Two executives and three employees of President Agri Trading are to be charged in relation to laundering the bribe money.

Bancha Khangkhan,

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan

The Nation