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Published on November 12, 2007

A source from the EC Office said the EC had sent circulars to Amlo and the Bank of Thailand to seek cooperation from commercial banks to monitor transactions of election candidates and their parties. The central bank was informed that the EC might send state auditors to audit transactions of certain accounts of politicians during the run-up to the December 23 election, the source said.

The source said the EC planned to set up a coordination centre to monitor and audit the spending of election candidates.

Members of a special committee would comprise the auditor-general, the permanent secretary for Interior, the permanent secretary for Commerce, the director of the Budget Bureau, the comptroller-general, the director-general of the Revenue Department, the director-general of the Cooperatives Auditing Department, the Amlo secretary-general and the BOT governor, according to the source.

The committee would audit the spending after the election but would be ready to carry out urgent auditing in case complaints are filed against certain candidates about excessive spending, the source said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratglin said he had received reports from the EC Office that many cases of alleged vote-buying had already taken place.

But Sonthi's comment surprised EC commissioner Praphan Naiyakowit, who said the EC had not yet submitted any report on vote-buying cases to Sonthi's anti-vote buying committee.