GPF chief denies secret investment account

"All investment decisions must be approved by the GPF's board of directors. Generally, we invest in US or European instruments and equities via a total of 13 international fund managers. However, we handle investments in Asia ourselves," he said, adding that the GPF had not invested in shares of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers as alleged.

He admitted the GPF had invested Bt10 million in Lehman Brothers instruments.

The GPF, whose combined investment portfolio of Bt380 billion has been hit hard by the collapse of stock prices, is under pressure after reporting a 5-per-cent erosion of its portfolio value last year.

Tharit Pengdit, secretary-general of the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PSACC), said the GPF was also alleged to have invested in blacklisted stocks.

Tharit's agency is pressuring the GPF to cooperate with authorities in an investigation into alleged mismanagement of the pension fund, which manages long-term savings of millions of bureaucrats and government employees.

Regarding the exposure to Lehman Brothers, Visit said the investment was made on the advice of a local fund manager and that the Social Security Office, which manages the portfolio of members of the social security system, also had an exposure of Bt40 million.

Meanwhile, the GPF's board yesterday decided to appoint a special subcommittee to probe Visit and the GPF's management after some of its members expressed scepticism about the fund's performance last year.

Finance permanent secretary Suparut Kawatkul said the subcommittee would probe three areas:

l Whether the GPF's operation has been in line with its regulations.

l Whether the fund has fully protected its members' interest.

l How the fund has communicated with its members on its performance so far.

The fund's board, which will meet again on Friday, will decide the details of the time frame of the probe.

"Today [yesterday] was not a normal meeting, as we invited only board members who were free today to discuss matters that have appeared in newspapers, such as the GPF's performance and the PSACC's letter to the fund," Suparut said.

He said members who would join the special subcommittee would be experts with experience, as well as representatives from the PSACC.

Suparut insisted the GPF must clarify what really happened, saying all parties, including the GPF and the PSACC, had performed their duties with integrity.

"We have to wait for the subcommittee to probe it, so we should not judge them [GPF's management]. Although some issues seem to be reasonable, it may be too soon to judge. So we need to wait for the probe results," Suparut said.

A GPF board member said there should be representatives from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Stock Exchange of Thailand on the special subcommittee.