Veera goes after two more KTB execs
Graft hunter wants all bank’s chiefs in dock
Anti-corruption activist Veera Somkwamkid has urged the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to seek the fair prosecution of all parties involved in Krungthai Bank’s (KTB) controversial loans to subsidiaries of the Krisdamahanakorn (KMN) real estate company.
In a petition he submitted yesterday, Mr Veera said only three of five former executives of the bank have been held to account for their alleged connection to the disbursement of loans amounting to nearly 10 billion baht during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.
They are Suchai Chaowisit, former chairman of the KTB board; Wiroj Nualkae, former KTB board member; and Matchima Kunchorn Na Ayutthaya, another board former.
They were each sentenced by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions in 2015 to 18 years in jail for colluding to commit graft in connection with the loans.
Mr Veera said two other former executives have not been brought to justice and that over 200 individuals and juristic entities are linked to the scandal.
Of total loans approved, 3.5 billion baht may have been embezzled by the real estate firm and individuals complicit in the financial crime, according to Mr Veera.
The DSI must move quickly against all of the wrongdoers or face a dereliction of duty charge, Mr Veera said.
In 2015 the Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found 24 people, including Mr Suchai, Mr Wiroj and Mr Matchima, guilty of wrongfully approving loans worth this amount in total to affiliates of developer KMN from 2003 to 2004. The loans were granted even though the firm was listed with the bank as a nonperforming debtor.
The DSI said it found evidence showing Panthongtae Shinawatra, the son of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the others were recipients of two cheques tied to the loan.
One was for 10 million baht, cashed into Mr Panthongtae’s bank account, and another for 26 million baht linked to other figures.
DSI deputy spokesman Woranant Srilam said he will forward Mr Veera’s petition to the unit handling the KTB loan case. Earlier, the DSI recommended indictment against an additional 13 individuals and juristic persons implicated in the alleged loan irregularities.
As for Mr Panthongtae, the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) has met the DSI and provided useful information. However, it is unclear at this stage if a charge related to money-laundering will be pressed against him.
Earlier, the DSI admitted their probe into his affairs had made little progress.
The investigation into Mr Thaksin’s son has been ongoing for several years and the statute of limitations is due to expire next year, according to DSI director-general Paisit Wongmuang.
With time running out he said he had decided to take charge of the probe and assigned the department’s Bureau of Financial and Banking Crime to help.
A DSI source said it has found certain people who had a hand in the loan scandal also violated the anti-money-laundering law. But they have not been charged for the latter, he said.