The wife of Thailand's deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra
returned to Bangkok from London with two of her children Wednesday,
the last day members of the previous cabinet were allowed to submit
their financial reports one month after their ouster, Thai
newspapers reported Thursday.
Former PM Thaksin managed to submit his reports of assets and
liabilities to the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) by
the deadline Wednesday, said NCCC spokesman Klanarong Chantik.
Thaksin had his representatives submit the documents on his
behalf.
Thaksin has been in London since he was overthrown in the Sept.
19 military coup in his country when he was on an overseas trip.
His request for an early return to Thailand has received a lukewarm
response from the ruling administration.
His wife Pojaman Shinawatra arrived Wednesday afternoon at the
new Suvarnabhumi International Airport after spending almost one
month at a London apartment with Thaksin and their three children,
a Thai Rak Thai party source was quoted by newspaper The Nation
assaying.
Also joining her on the Thai Airways flight from London were her
children Panthongtae and Paethongtarn, as well as Thaksin's two
trusted aides Padung Limcharoenrat and Pansak Winyuratn.
The source said that Pojaman was likely to have brought with her
documents regarding Thaksin's assets declaration.
All 33 members of the previous Cabinet met the deadline for
complying with the requirements of the anti-graft law, according to
the NCCC spokesman.
Klanarong said the NCCC had to announce the declarations to the
public within 30 days. After that, it would consider and verify
whether the Cabinet members were suspected of corruption.
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Meanwhile, Asset Examination Committee (AEC) secretary Kaewsan
Atibodhi on Wednesday said the panel would look into 20 corruption
cases over the first three months of its operation.
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The AEC agreed that each of its members must probe at least two
corruption allegations. The AEC has accepted nine corruption cases
and will accept three more on Tuesday.
The AEC will appoint 20 teams of experts in different sectors to
assist its members. "They are like 20 little troops which will help
us search for evidence in each case. The AEC will be the
commander," he said.
Kaewsan said the AEC's working style is different from that of
the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC). "The AEC will be
water-tight and faster than the NCCC," he said. It would focus on
government projects and how serious were the offences.
"We will probe such cases as one that is not large, like a 10
million baht (US$270,000) (suspicious) project, but involves
atrocious offence." Kaewsan said.
Both AEC and NCCC were appointed by the military Council for
Democratic Reform (now named Council for National Security) after
it led the coup to oust Thaksin to probe assets and suspected
corruption cases against the former cabinet members.
(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2006)
