Ex-graft buster to be indicted
Jaruvan, accomplice to be charged for falsely claiming to have held seminar
The attorney general has signed an order for the prosecution of former auditor-general Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka for allegedly falsely claiming to have held a seminar so members of her staff could file claims for travel expenses.
Wanchai Rujanawong, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney-General, told the press yesterday that Attorney General Trakul Winijanaipak had signed the prosecution order on August 26.
The order endorses the National Anti-Corruption Commis-sion’s decision to arraign Jaruvan and an alleged accomplice on malfeasance charges in Criminal Court.
Two in collaboration
The NACC found that Jaruvan, while she was auditor-general, had collaborated with Kamphi Somjai, then director of the Human Resources Administration Division of the Office of the Auditor-General, to state falsely that her office had held a seminar in Nan on October 31, 2003.
The NACC alleged that the seminar was falsely claimed to have taken place so Jaruvan’s staff in the Auditor-General’s Office could seek reimbursements for travel and accommodation expenses. However, her staff allegedly travelled to Nan to attend a merit-making ceremony. Further investigation showed that the seminar had never been held.
The NACC decided to have Jaruvan and Kamphi charged with violating Articles 157 and 83 of the Criminal Code, and passed the case over to the Office of the Attorney-General on August 29, 2013.
Year spent gathering evidence
When the attorney-general argued that the case lacked details and enough evidence, the public prosecutors and the NACC set up a joint panel to investigate the case further.
Wanchai said the joint panel spent a year gathering more evidence and further investigating the case before sending it back for the attorney-general’s approval on August 26 this year.
The spokesman said the NACC was now required to take Jaruvan and Kamphi to the public prosecutors’ office to hear the prosecution order.
The case will be passed on to the Special Cases 5 Office so the two suspects can be charged in court, Wanchai said.
When Jaruvan was auditor-general during the second tenure of Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, she built a reputation as a graft-buster when she came out to warn the public against alleged irregularities in some mega-projects.
After the 2006 coup was staged, Jaruvan was appointed as member of the Assets Examination Committee that launched several graft cases against Thaksin. She was also elected as a Bangkok senator, but has not been able to take office as the military dissolved the Senate after again seizing power on May 22 this year.
