Third Army chief Lt Gen Preecha Chan-ocha has vowed to declare all of his assets and liabilities after being appointed to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).
The move comes after the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) asked NLA members to disclose the information to the agency and the public for the sake of transparency.
Lt Gen Preecha yesterday said he has served in the military for 35 years and insisted his assets have been acquired appropriately. Lt Gen Preecha is the younger brother of National Council for Peace and Order leader and army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha and is among a number of military officers appointed to the NLA.
There is no provision in the current interim constitution demanding that NLA members declare their assets, but Section 6 of the interim charter stipulates that the members perform the role of both MPs and senators.
Based on this section, an NACC meeting on Thursday concluded that NLA members are also required by the National Anti-Corruption Act to submit declarations of their assets and liabilities to the anti-graft body and reveal them to the public, in the same manner as lawmakers.
This practice is also consistent with rules applied to members of the previous NLA set up after the 2006 coup, who were required to submit their assets to the anti-graft agency, NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljiak explained on Thursday.
Current NLA members have to submit their assets declarations to the NACC by Sept 7 — within 30 days of being sworn into office on Aug 8, Mr Sansern said.
NLA vice-president Surachai Liangboonlertchai said he agreed that all members must declare their assets to demonstrate transparency, adding that the legislative body must be ready to be scrutinised.
He also said the NLA is expected to meet on Monday to deliberate the 2015 budget bill, which is the most urgent legislative issue on the assembly's agenda.
Mr Surachai said the body will also work on drawing up regulations to govern NLA meetings, so that the assembly could convene the meeting to choose an interim prime minister on Aug 21-22.