Assets of ousted Thai PM to be frozen

Thailand’s top graft buster said today the country’s military rulers may freeze the assets of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and members of his Cabinet if evidence is found that they tried to transfer their wealth abroad.

Sawat Chotiphanit, the newly appointed head of an anti-corruption committee, spoke to reporters after coup makers began multi-pronged investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Thaksin and members of his deposed government.

“If we find evidence that they tried to transfer their assets overseas we will freeze the assets,” he said.

Thailand’s military rulers, who seized control in a bloodless coup last week while Thaksin was abroad, revived the country’s National Counter Corruption Commission to investigate widespread allegations of graft under his five-year rule.

Earlier, one of Thaksin’s lawyers told The Associated Press that the former premier, now in exile in London, would probably testify to clear his name.

Despite the apparent peaceful nature of the coup, the military has been criticised at home and abroad for curtailing civil liberties and has been urged to quickly restore democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

It has promised to hand power to an interim civilian regime, a move expected early next week, and hold elections by October next year after the drafting of a new constitution to replace the one scrapped when it ousted Thaksin.

But in a move likely to spark controversy, the military council today said it would play a role in approving the next permanent constitution.

Several hand-picked civilian bodies will draft and scrutinise the constitution, which the military council will have the right to review, said Lt Gen Boonsrang Niumpradit, the military’s deputy supreme commander.

It is the first time the country’s new military rulers have suggested they will be involved in the creation of a new constitution.

Its focus has been on trying to meet its self-imposed two-week deadline to hand power to a civilian administration, a move that was expected early next week. “I can assure you that a new prime minister will not be named within the next four to five days,” said Lt. Gen. Palangoon Klaharn, spokesman for the military council.

He said an interim constitution – which would have to be completed in order for a new administration to be seated – has not yet been finished.

The military has cited corruption in the former Thaksin government as one of the reasons for its Sept. 19 coup.

Even before the anti-graft committee held its first meeting Monday, the military council announced that it had established an even more powerful commission headed by Sawat that has the authority to seize assets of politicians and their families.

Thaksin and members of his government were given 30 days to report their assets, commission member Klanarong Chanthik said Monday, adding that the group was faced with “tons of documents and 10,000 unresolved (corruption) cases.”

The country’s well-regarded auditor-general is also probing suspicious government projects.

A thorough probe and prosecution of the guilty would be almost unprecedented in modern Thailand, where corruption reaches into the highest levels of power and wealth. Past efforts to seize unlawfully gained assets have petered out or been overruled by subsequent governments.

On Sunday, the coup makers announced that a nine-member committee will investigate alleged wrongdoing in the Thaksin administration, focusing on a number of mega-projects that some suspect were riddled with bribery.

“Good men don’t have to worry, but wrongdoers will be punished,” Sawat told television reporters Monday, adding he needed “wise and strong men” to help cope with the massive task ahead.

Suspicion has mounted that Thaksin managed to fly out some of his vast assets before last Tuesday’s coup. Airline officials said over the weekend that an aircraft chartered by Thaksin carried an unusually large amount of luggage.

The national carrier, Thai Airways International, said in a statement Monday that the prime minister’s office had chartered an aircraft for government business while Thaksin was travelling abroad. The flight carried 28 passengers and about 40 pieces of luggage, it said.

Wichit Plangsrisakul, an attorney for Thaksin in Bangkok, said Thaksin and some former ministers were prepared to cooperate with the investigators.

“I have not yet talked to Prime Minister Thaksin and his family but I believe that he is ready to testify to clear himself,” Wichit said. All the ministers he had spoken to told him they had committed no wrongdoing, the lawyer said.

Some of Thaksin’s close associates have been called in for questioning by the ruling council while others have offered to cooperate with it, including former Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, the deputy leader of Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party.

The former prime minister’s family was one of the wealthiest in Southeast Asia even before he came into office in 2001.