Graft busters to unveil Thaksin's assets
Afp, Bangkok
Thailand's corruption watchdog said yesterday it will publicly release hundreds of financial statements filed by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and every minister who served under him. The move is part of an anti-graft drive by the junta that ousted Thaksin in a bloodless coup on September 19. In one of the junta's first actions, the generals reinstated the National Counter Corruption Commission, which had been dormant for more than a year, and set up its own high-powered anti-graft panel with the power to seize assets from Thaksin and other former officials. After its first meeting Friday, the NCCC said it would release the financial records, making public detailed information about the assets of billionaire Thaksin and everyone who was in his cabinet. "The NCCC will publicly disclose the asset declarations of former prime minister Thaksin and his cabinet ministers on October 20," spokesman Klanarong Chanthick said. The release will include 208 financial records running from the start of Thaksin's government in 2001, he said. "Even though Thaksin is living in exile overseas, he must submit a final asset account" like any other premier who leaves office, Klanarong said.
| 
