Thai coup leaders prepare assault on corruption

BANGKOK, Sep 22: Thailand's new military rulers were preparing today to launch an assault on alleged corruption under ousted billionaire leader Thaksin Shinawatra after a coup they say was needed to end political strife.

They were working on forming a nine-person panel to probe Thaksin, his relatives and political colleagues, judges invited onto the panel said.

''I've been approached by people in the reform council to be one of the nine National Counter Corruption Commissioners and I've accepted it,'' former supreme court judge Name Yimyaem told Reuters.

The panel, modelled on a commission under Thaksin that was fired after giving itself illegal pay rises and was not replaced, would not target Thaksin alone, the judges said.

The auditor-general has already speeded up existing probes, including an investigation into whether Thaksin's family legitimately avoided paying tax on its 1.9 billion dollar sale of the firm he founded.

Thaksin, a former police colonel whose Shin Corp grew into Thailand's biggest telecommunications group, has denied charges of corruption since street campaigners began throwing them at him late last year.

However, his family's tax-free sale of its controlling stake in the company to Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings in January infuriated Bangkok's middle classes and breathed life into the anti-Thaksin movement.

The military said it had been forced into Tuesday's coup because there was no other way out of a political crisis that pitted Thaksin, the winner of two landslide elections, against the old guard and street campaigners who said he had undermined democratic institutions and become a dictator.

The coup leaders say the army has no interest in staying in power and will select a prime minister within two weeks to set up a government and start drawing up a new constitution to allow elections in a year.

Among the apparent favourites are Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former World Trade Organisation chief who would be a welcome face to the international community, and Pridiyathorn Devakula, the central bank chief favoured by the financial industry. THAKSIN'S DESERVED REST Thaksin was in New York at the U N General Assembly at the time of the coup, Thailand's first in 15 years but its 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

Thai media splashed pictures of a smiling Thaksin, hand-in-hand with his daughter, going out for a stroll in London where aides say he is having a ''deserved rest''.

Yesterday, he urged all parties to work for national reconciliation ''for the sake of our King and country''.

His colleagues back in Thailand were less lucky, however.

Two more cabinet ministers turned themselves in to the army, joining two Thaksin aides in indefinite custody. The Nation newspaper said they were likely to be detained until a new civilian government was installed.

Human rights organisations and governments around the world have condemned the coup leaders' curbs on civil liberties.

The military has banned political gatherings of more than five people and the distribution of information critical of the coup on Web sites or on television, apparently to avoid the spread of rumours about or the instigation of a counter-coup.

As the Information Ministry explained it to news editors, that meant no broadcasting of SMS messages on television programmes or calls to radio shows, even traffic stations.

Web masters were told to shut political Web boards for 12 days or risk permanent closure.

Foreign news broadcasts, such as CNN and the BBC, which were blocked in the hours after the coup, were uncensored today.

Rumours of a counter-coup by Thaksin supporters have been simmering quietly in the background since the coup and the army warned the public against taking them seriously.

However, a limited military presence was still obvious in Bangkok, especially around Government House and army headquarters.

There were also signs of reinforcements on roads leading into the city, including a handful of tanks on the highway from the north and northeast where many army units are based.

The coup leaders have also banned ''political activities''.

The United States said it was dismayed by the ban and was reviewing its budgeted 14 million dollar in aid to Thailand this year.

U S Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill told reporters the coup was a ''very sad development'' for Thai democracy and a step backwards for the country.

REUTERS