The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) denies it has been lobbied to change a commissioner to sway an investigation into former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's police hospital detention.
NACC secretary-general Sarote Phuengramphan, who is also the agency's spokesman, denied lobbying had taken place to change the commissioner in charge of the case, as reported.
The lobbying was alleged by activist and former red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan who claimed during a live session on Facebook on Dec 25 that an attempt was made to coax Ekkawit Watchawanku into stepping aside as commissioner in charge of the Thaksin hospital detention case.
Mr Sarote said on Sunday the NACC has accepted the case for probe with the entire panel of commissioners supervising the process.
The NACC earlier this month agreed to investigate officials accused of letting Thaksin stay in relative comfort at the Police General Hospital (PGH) instead of prison.
Thaksin, sentenced to eight years in prison across three cases before receiving royal clemency, reducing his term to one year, was detained in a ward on the 14th floor of the hospital for approximately six months. He was paroled and discharged from the PGH on Feb 18, completing his one-year prison term on Aug 31.
The commission decided to take up the case in response to claims that officials at the Department of Corrections and the hospital sent Thaksin to the PGH so he did not have to serve his term in prison. Thaksin spent 180 days at the PGH, although he was believed not to have been seriously ill.
The NACC said it had gathered enough facts, witnesses and evidence to conduct the probe so decided to proceed with the case. The investigation would focus on 12 officials at the Department of Corrections and the PGH, the commission said.
On his Facebook session, Mr Jatuporn said Mr Ekkawit was subject to lobbying to stand down in favour of another commissioner.
The activist suggested the lobbying may have come from someone within the commission.
He said Mr Ekkawit, a former Supreme Court chief justice, assumed a prominent role in the probe and it was natural for him to be target of lobbying to have him sidelined.
Although a switch of commissioner in charge may not end in the case being dropped, it would at least delay the investigation, Mr Jatuporn said.
However, Mr Jatuporn said it was up to Mr Ekkawit if he would cave in to pressure.
"My message to NACC is simply this. The country had endured enough tribulations. The agency must recognise that there are no secrets in the world," he said.
