Graft-buster demands action over Prawit’s ‘watchgate’ as NACC backs off

Meanwhile, National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) president Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said his agency could not suspend the deputy prime minister from office, as it was not its duty to do so.
Anti-corruption campaigner Rosana Tositrakul said netizens, including those on the CSI LA watchdog’s Facebook page, had documented Prawit wearing 22 luxury watches with an estimated value of Bt34.7 million. 
However, Prawit’s income during the past three years should not have exceeded Bt10 million. The discrepancy raised an interesting question as to how the NACC’s probe into the case should proceed, Rosana said. 
If Prawit said he had bought the watches himself, he would face an allegation of having unusual wealth, she said, adding that if he inherited the watches, he must have some proof such as the wills of the deceased. 
In posting other scenarios, she said if he had been given the watches by family members, he must identify the persons or show other proof, then apply for a tax waiver of no more than Bt20 million and pay tax on the rest. If he had been given the watches by other people, he must again have proof and ask for a tax waiver of no more than Bt10 million and pay tax on the rest.
However, if he showed proof for that purpose, Prawit might risk violating the NACC’s regulation that public officials cannot accept gifts worth more than Bt3,000.
Rosana said if Prawit claimed that he borrowed the watches from friends, he must identify those friends so the Customs Department could trace whether they had paid import duties. If not, then Prawit might risk violating the Customs law. It would also have to be determined whether the gift-giver had paid tax. 
Rosana said Prawit could claim that about 20 of the watches had simply not yet been reported to the NACC after he took office in the junta government after the coup.
But at least two watches – the 16th and 20th as reported by the CSI LA – should have already been reported to the agency as they were apparently among his assets before he took office during the Abhisit government in2010.
That could be enough to prove that Prawit had failed to report assets worth more than Bt200,000 to the NACC as required by law.
Rosana said the handling of Prawit’s case would show whether the junta took corruption seriously, or whether the new charter was just a tool to suppress its opponents.
Meanwhile, Watcharapol said it was not the NACC’s role to consider suspending Prawit from duty. He said the inquiry was at an initial stage and the NACC has been doing its.
He said Prawit had not reported anything in addition to his initial letter of explanation to the NACC.