The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is poised to seize the assets of former tourism chief Juthamas Siriwan after finding her being unusually rich following a probe into a film festival bribery case.
Juthamas: Court to rule on Wednesday
Nitiphan Prachuabmoh, an NACC official in charge of foreign affairs, said yesterday the asset seizure decision is based on the NACC's ruling that Ms Juthamas had abused her position as the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor to amass wealth.
The anti-graft agency will forward its findings to the Office of Attorney-General (OAG) within 30 days to initiate the asset seizure process, he said.
Mr Nitiphan said the assets to be confiscated include those she has allegedly transferred to her daughter Jittisopha and much of it is money in bank accounts in England, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland and Jersey in the Channel Islands.
Ms Jittisopha has tried to verify the origins of the assets suspected to be the proceeds of the bribe, but the NACC has found her explanation has no weight, he said.
It is a landmark case for the NACC in terms of exposing international bribery, and international asset recovery, Mr Nitiphan said. The NACC launched its investigation into Ms Juthamas' wealth after suspecting her of taking bribes from a Los Angeles film-making couple who were awarded a 60-million-baht contract to host the annual Bangkok International Film Festival between 2003 and 2007.
The NACC coordinated with the US authorities to freeze the assets and the US is required to transfer them to Thai authorities under the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2004 and other agreements.
An agreement is expected to be made between Thai authorities, the US and other countries where the assets are stashed, Mr Nitiphan said.
"And it will make this case the country's first international bribery case in which the proceeds from corruption will be tracked down and recovered," he said.
"It will be a landmark case for the NACC. We don't just bring wrongdoers to justice, but also seek the return of the assets associated with the offences."
The NACC's asset seizure decision also comes ahead of next week's planned ruling in the bribery case. The Criminal Court is scheduled to make a ruling next Wednesday almost two years after the OAG indicted her over the alleged bribe in 2005.
Ms Juthamas and her daughter have also been indicted in the US with conspiracy to launder money by the US authorities.