Activist Veera Somkwamkid says he is seeking to impeach members of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for ignoring a court order to disclose details about their investigation into the luxury wristwatch saga involving Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.
Mr Veera, in an interview with the Isra News Agency, accused the NACC of defying the order by the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled the disclosure must be completed within 15 days of the order being passed on April 21.
The NACC reportedly decided in a 5-to-1 vote on Wednesday not to reveal the details of its probe, reasoning it may need to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court for help with interpretation.
The commission said the investigation contained accounts of several individuals in the case, which were confidential. The agency indicated it might need the Constitutional Court's opinion on how far it can go in terms of disclosing details.
In December 2018, the NACC found there were no grounds for claims that Gen Prawit had falsely declared his wealth when he did not include 22 luxury watches and rings in his list of assets. Gen Prawit claimed they belonged to friends and had been returned. Mr Veera later petitioned the Supreme Administrative Court requesting the disclosure order, which was subsequently granted.
On Thursday, Mr Veera said that he would work with Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, chairman of Seri Ruam Thai's policy steering committee and a former election commissioner, to mount a campaign aimed at collecting at least 20,000 signatures to launch the impeachment process against the commissioners over their failure to follow the order.
On his Facebook page, Mr Veera also alleged that by failing to comply with the court's order, the commission, as an anti-graft agency, has clearly ignored the law it is supposed to enforce.