The House committee on laws, justice and human rights will decide whether to launch a probe into alleged extortion by MPs sitting on a sub-panel scrutinising the 2021 expenditure budget, the committee chairman Sira Jenjaka says.
Mr Sira said he will call for a committee vote this week on whether a probe should be conducted into the allegations the MPs demanded a bribe of 5 million baht in return for passing a budget allocation earmarked for a groundwater pump project.
The allegation was made by Sakda Wichiensilp, director-general of the Groundwater Resources Department while he was reportedly defending his agency's budget allocation to the sub-panel.
Mr Sira said yesterday the scandal has severely tarnished the reputation of the sub-panel as a whole.
The issue must be investigated to see who was involved in the alleged malpractice.
"If the House committee on laws agrees to initiate a probe, it would set in motion the first step towards finding the truth," he said.
The committee plans to summon Mr Sakda to testify next week, he added.
Several House sub-panels have been established to examine the bill on the 3.3-trillion-baht budget slated for the next fiscal year starting in October.
The legislation sailed through its first reading in the House of Representatives last month.
Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Santi Promphat, who chairs the House committee overseeing budget scrutiny, dismissed accusations that the House sub-panels had the power to revise budget allocations already approved in the first reading.
With no such power, he insisted the sub-panels could not seek to reap ill-gotten gains.
All the sub-panels are legally permitted to do is determine if projects outlined in the bill were worth the budget earmarked for them.
Mr Sira said if and when his committee's probe was set up, he did not expect it would take long to find evidence of any wrongdoing.
One piece of evidence might be a recording of a conversation between Mr Sakda and the MPs who allegedly tried to extort money from the department.