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Published on February 24, 2008

Democrat MP Peeraphan Saleeratwipak yesterday criticised the transfer and urged the public to keep an eye on many crucial unfinished cases under DSI investigation.

Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat on Friday approved Sunai's transfer to serve as the acting secretary-general of the newly established Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption, starting tomorrow.

Sunai has been out of contact via his mobile phone since Friday evening, after being called about the transfer by Justice Ministry permanent secretary Charan Phakdithanakul.

Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) deputy secretary-general Tawee Sodsong is to become DSI acting director-general.

Rumours have spread that Tawee, who served as a DSI deputy chief during the Thaksin administration, is to return to the DSI in a top post because he was close to Thaksin's allies. When Thaksin was ousted, Tawee was transferred from the DSI to the ONCB.

Angkhana Neelaphaijit, wife of missing Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, said Sunai had told her during a meeting on Friday when they discussed a review of the witness-protection policy that he had been threatened recently. Sunai, who did not know about the transfer at the time, vowed to keep working hard on her case, she said, despite having received death threats to himself and his family in mysterious phone calls.

She also said her hopes, re-vived after the Justice Ministry's announcement that it would reopen the case of Somchai's disappearance and the case of

the missing Saudi gems, had been dashed when she heard of the transfer order for the DSI chief.

Meanwhile, Democrat MP Peeraphan Saleeratwipak criticised the change in the top DSI post, saying that rumours had spread that there had been many previous attempts to transfer the DSI chief but it was not until a new agency was established within the Justice Ministry that the attempt had finally succeed. He said Sunai's successor should be his deputy Tharit Pengdit instead of Thawee. He urged the public to watch for impact on many key cases now under DSI investigation.

The DSI under Sunai was handling many crucial cases, among them the alleged irregularities in loans given by Krung Thai Bank to Krisadamaha-nakorn Group, and many extrajudicial killings during the Thaksin government's war on drugs. The DSI has also asked public prosecutors to prosecute Thaksin and his wife for allegedly concealing their shares in SC Asset.

The Nation