Joint panel to look into OAG's claims first
KING-OUA LAOHONG
The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) may file corruption cases against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his government officials by itself.
The commission is prepared to act if the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) continues to reject the investigation reports of the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC).
The NCCC has taken over the corruption cases involving the Thaksin government from the ASC, which completed its term at the end of last month.
The ASC was established by the Council for Democratic Reform that toppled the Thaksin government in 2006. Corruption was among the reasons given for the coup.
The NCCC and the OAG will form a joint committee to discuss the ASC's investigations, which the OAG claims are incomplete.
''The joint committee will discuss the alleged incomplete cases and examine opinions from both sides.
''If they cannot reach an agreement, the NCCC will file the action by itself, as the ASC did in many cases,'' a source at the NCCC said.
The NCCC is handling the case concerning alleged bribery and price inflation in the procurement of luggage bomb scanners worth over six billion baht for Suvarnabhumi airport, and another involving the seizure of 76 billion baht in assets from Mr Thaksin for alleged corruption in the Shin Corp share deals.
The source said the OAG was acting as if it was the lawyer for the accused.
It disagrees with the ASC, which demanded 6.9 billion baht in compensation from parties involved in the procurement of luggage scanners, and insists that the compensation should stand at 4.3 billion baht.
It also disagrees with the ASC's demands for compensation from state-owned New Bangkok International Airport Co (NBIA) for acting as the direct buyer of the luggage scanners in place of ITO Joint Venture, the airport developer. The OAG argued that no-one officially complained about damage caused by NBIA.
The OAG does not believe that NBIA helped ITO by acting as the direct buyer in the procurement, which was allegedly plagued with bribery.
The office doubts much of the evidence and witnesses produced by the ASC. Items of evidence include an email that the US Department of Justice and Deputy Attorney-General Chulasing Wasantasing had earlier verified.
The OAG even demanded a probe into the increase in income for Airports of Thailand after the completion and opening of Suvarnabhumi airport.
It also argued that the fact that InVision Technologies, the luggage scanner producer, had agreed to pay a US$500,000 fine to the US Department of Justice, which investigated possible bribery in the supply of the scanners, did not necessarily mean that InVision Technologies denied or accepted the bribery allegation.
On the ASC's 76-billion-baht asset seizure petition, the OAG argued that the ASC failed to elaborate on the amount suspected of being irregularly acquired, the source said.
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