Prosecutors ‘negligent’
THE National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) transferred the Na Thawi provincial public prosecutor and his deputy because of alleged negligence, not corruption, an anti-graft official has revealed.
The Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission’s secretary general Prayong Preeyachitt disclosed the information yesterday in response to reports that the two may have been wrongly targeted.
Last Friday, NCPO chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha invoked Article 44 of the Interim Constitution to order the immediate transfer of 23 officials for alleged wrongdoing. Three of the officials were public prosecutors, two of them working in Na Thawi in Songkhla.
Attorney-General Pongniwat Yuthapanboriparn said yesterday the two officials from Na Thawi had already reported to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in Bangkok in response to the transfer order.
OAG deputy spokesman Prayut Petchakhun said the Centre for National Anti-Corruption would have to clearly identify grounds for the allegations against the affected officials.
“Upon receiving information from the centre, we will launch an investigation and submit the results within 30 days,” he said.
A source said the OAG believed the NCPO took action against the two senior public prosecutors in Na Thawi district because it did not understand legal procedures well enough and may have been unhappy about how some cases had been handled.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said he had heard the provincial public prosecutor in Na Thawi was appointed to the post only on June 17. He said the NCPO and government would allow the OAG to probe the cases of the accused officials itself.