Attorney-general denies order to transfer his deputy came from on high

Former Defence Ministry permanent secretary Preecha Chan-o-cha has had complaints filed against him by anti-corruption organisations over the recruitment of one of his sons to serve in the military, and over his other son winning military construction contracts and being allowed to set up a company in a military camp. 

On September 29, the then deputy attorney-general Poramet Intarachumnum referred to the complaints and criticised Prayut and Wissanu over the matter in a Facebook post.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Attorney-General issued a notice instructing senior prosecutors nationwide to follow the office’s regulations in relation to the dissemination of information to the public.

It then issued another order calling for a probe into the case, before the latest order was issued on Wednesday in which Poramet was transferred to another bureau.

Pongniwat insisted yesterday that he was not pressured into transferring Poramet. The transfer, he said, was to pave the way for the probe, and initially there would be a fact-finding process. 

Pongniwat said a complaint had not been filed with the office over the issue, with action taken after Poramet’s post came to light. He said that critically, Poramet’s comments were picked up by the media. Poramet had made allegations against people, so the matter must be probed, he |added.

The attorney-general declined to say how long the probe would take.

Pranot Pongpaew, Inspector-General of the Office of the Attorney-General and head of the investigation, said the probe would take around 30 days and he would submit the findings to the attorney-general to decide whether a disciplinary investigation panel should be set up to handle the case.

Pranot said that besides Poramet, he would invite a few other people at the Office of the Attorney-General to testify. The office insisted that Poramet’s post was a private matter and it |had nothing to do with the matter.

Meanwhile, the National Legislative Assembly yesterday voted to accept in principle the new anti-corruption bill proposed by the Cabinet. A scrutiny committee will be set up to go through the bill before the NLA deliberates on it in the second and third readings.

The bill, if enacted, would result in the National Anti-Corruption Commission having its authority strengthened by allowing it to appoint investigators nationwide to help it find initial facts – a process aimed at reducing the agency’s burden.