Sombat faces NACC asset seizure bid
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has accused former deputy interior minister Sombat Uthaisang who served in the Thaksin Shinawatra cabinet of being unusually rich and agreed to seek the seizure of around 108 million baht of his assets.
Acting NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon said Mr Sombat failed to declare nine bank accounts belonging to Mr Sombat’s wife, Sujiwan, and their three children to the anti-graft agency one year after leaving his posts as the deputy interior minister, adviser to the minister of information and communications technology and chairman of the ToT plc board.
As of Nov 4, 2004, one year after he left these positions, the accounts held 106.2 million baht in deposits.
Mr Worawit, who is also the NACC spokesman, said Mr Sombat succeeded in proving 15 million baht of that sum was legitimately obtained. However, he failed to explain how another 91 million baht was acquired. With this amount, plus deposit interest payments of 17.2 million baht, officials believed a total of 108 million baht has questionable origins.
Mr Worawit said the NACC will petition the Office of the Attorney-General to seek an order from the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to confiscate the money from the accounts at the Government Housing Bank’s Soi Convent and Phutthamonthon branches.
In 2012, the anti-graft agency indicted Mr Sombat for failing to report his wealth properly. The agency took the case against Mr Sombat to the Supreme Court.
In 2015, the court found Mr Sombat guilty of making false asset declarations.
He was handed a two-month jail term, suspended for one year, and banned from politics for five years. The ruling prompted the NACC to set up a committee to probe whether Mr Sombat was unusually rich.