The anti-graft organic bill expected to go before the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) tomorrow will require unmarried partners of political office-holders to declare their assets, chairman of the scrutiny committee Chatchawal Suksomjit said on Tuesday.
He said the panel has concluded that unmarried partners of a political office-holder must also declare his or her assets to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
It would be left to the NACC to specify the rules, but details and personal information will be protected.
The panel on Monday spent more than 10 hours finalising its draft of the law.
Vicha Mahakhun, a drafter of the law and former NACC member, said partners required to declare assets under this law must have "a strong established relationship and be in possession of some of the other's assets, not just a relationship on the surface."
A source, who asked not to be named, said the requirement to extend the asset declaration to common law partners was necessary because political office-holders in recent years have increasingly transferred assets to unmarried partners or have chosen to legally divorce from their spouse to dodge NACC scrutiny.
Another controversial issue to be debated tomorrow is giving the NACC power to wiretap phones or look at digital and postal communications of people being investigated under certain conditions.
The measure was also agreed by the majority of the scrutiny committee members.
Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan said he was worried about this clause.
"The CDC has told the panel that we do not want someone having too much power. Instead, they [NACC investigators] should use their knowledge and ability to investigate because if this power falls into the hands of bad people, it could be dangerous," he said adding it also might violate other laws and people's privacy.
Pol Gen Chatchawal said in the past the law required the NACC to ask for the court's permission to gain access to people's information by such means where it was deemed necessary.
NLA chairman Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said countries around the world give such power to authorities to investigate clandestinely to some extent.
In the US, people's rights and freedoms used to get priority, but the 9/11 terror attack led to measures that now allow more intrusive investigation. Thailand gives some similar powers to authorities under the Computer Crime Act.
Mr Vicha also said he had concerns, adding he would try to convince NLA members to oppose the electronic snooping idea.
"It is worrying, especially the process to secure the information. What if they also obtain information not involving corruption, how will this information be used?" he asked.
"It is hard to control and in this era, leaked information can spread easily and stick forever.
"There have been cases abroad where some people use such information for blackmail," he said.
The scrutiny panel also agreed to "reset" the current NACC (make it restart from scratch) despite some members lacking some qualifications required by the new charter, should they transfer to the reset body.