Photos 'show Watana at trading firm'
Photographs have confirmed the link between former minister Watana Muangsook and a trading firm in the controversial Ua Athorn housing project scandal, a source close to an investigative panel said yesterday.
The photographs showed Watana going in and out President Agri Trading, the rice-trading company, which has been accused of helping him launder illicit funds into his accounts, the source said. The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) ruled on Monday that Watana, the former minister of social development and human security, and four groups of 10 suspects will face graft indictments relating to Bt82 million in bribes from the project. A member of the probe team secretly watched the company until he was able to take the photographs, the source said. Meanwhile, an AEC member slammed the prime minister for failing to force government agencies to lodge complaints against politicians and bureaucrats accused of mishandling lotteries during the Thaksin Shinawatra government. "The prime minister promised to coordinate with those agencies to respond to our requests. But nothing has been done," lead investigator Udom Fuangfung said. Early this month, the AEC incriminated 32 former cabinet members and 17 officials for state losses of Bt15 billion in taxes from the two- and three-digit lotteries. The interior and finance ministries were supposed to lodge complaints against the accused, but had done nothing yet, Udom said. Last week the National Legislative Assembly approved a new law to give the AEC more power to demand cooperation from state agencies in its investigations into alleged corrupt politicians. The law, expected to become effective once it receives royal endorsement, will give the AEC power to launch petitions on its own if the relevant agencies don't cooperate. Udom said the AEC would depend on the law rather than the state agencies. Meanwhile, an AEC source said the AEC had considered a complaint against Surayud, PM's Office Minister Dhipavadee Meksawan and Pramoj Rathvinij, head of the Public Relations Department. It claimed the government's handling of the takeover of iTV violated the law. The AEC would ask Dhipavadee to clarify the whole process of the iTV takeover by the end of the week, the source said.
Budsarakham Sinlapalavan, Piyanuch Thamnukasetchai The Nation
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