NACC chooses to stay mum on Prayut, Wissanu’s assets
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said on Monday that it could not reveal Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam’s assets as it can be sued for violating the Criminal Code’s Article 157.
NACC had been asked by the Official Information Commission to reveal what assets had been declared by Prayut and Wissanu when they took office.
According to Article 157, any individual or agency that wrongfully exercises any of its functions that can be injurious to another person can be punished with imprisonment of up to 10 years and/or fined between 2,000 and 20,000 baht.
Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, NACC president, said the commission can only store information and investigate if there are any discrepancies, but cannot reveal details.
According to Article 102 of the 2018 Prevention and Suppression of Corruption Act, political office holders are required to declare their assets to the NACC when they take office, when they leave office and one year after they have left office.
Article 105 of the same law says that political office holders do not have to declare assets if they take office within one month of stepping down. Prayut and Wissanu took their new positions within one month, so they do not have to declare their assets, NACC said.