ICAC 'dropped' illegal money transfer case

“The case in question took place in the past and involved Thai politicians,” Theerapat Kamkubon said. 

In his capacity as acting chairman of the Anti-Corruption Network (ACN), Theerapat said he had asked the ICAC whether Thai politicians might be involved in moving funds through the underground banking system. 

He said an ICAC executive responded by saying that there had been such activities in the past but the commission did not have the mandate to investigate unless Thai authorities sought to initiate legal proceedings.

Theerapat added that he had raised this question at a meeting between his network and the ICAC in Hong Kong on September 7. 

Earlier remarks from the ACN triggered speculation about Bt16 billion being allegedly siphoned from the rice-pledging scheme and being parked in Hong Kong. 

Dussadee Arayawuth, deputy permanent secretary for the Justice Ministry, said yesterday that he had confidential information about some money being illegally transferred from Thailand to Hong Kong, but this was not linked to the Bt16 billion that was allegedly moved. 

Dussadee said a leading politician had on Saturday tried to persuade him to shed light on an illegal money transfer involving politicians, but he said he really had no knowledge about the issue. 

“I don’t want to be dragged into this bickering,” he said, adding that he did not wish to draw a hasty conclusion but wanted evidence to speak for itself. 

Meanwhile, though Justice Minister Pracha Promnok has insisted that there was no instance of Bt16 billion being allegedly moved to Hong Kong for laundering purposes, ACN secretary-general Mongkolkit Suksintaranont said he was 80 per cent certain that politicians had moved the funds through the underground banking system. 

He said he was ready to provide backing for any government committee set up to investigate the issue, though this panel should be composed of members of his network because he did not trust government officials. However, he said, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung was welcome to join, especially since he had previously spoken about such movement of money to a parliamentary committee on governance. 

Mongkolkit then said the ACN would this week convene a board meeting to decide on the next move. 

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai MP Pracha Prasopdee backed Chalerm’s previous comments by saying yesterday that critics were fabricating this story as a pretext to overthrow the government. He added that the Democrats and other opposition members had joined forces to dramatise the case despite the lack of evidence. 

He also challenged the key opposition Democrat Party to censure the government, saying he would then have the opportunity to expose how five Democrats allegedly moved their ill-gotten riches out of the country.