Published on June 27, 2005

After weeks of confusion about the status of the incumbent auditor general, Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has announced that she is no longer at the agency’s helm.

The agency has posted a statement on its website (www.oag.go.th) explaining Jaruvan’s status and providing a chronology of events in the controversy over her appointment and the selection of a new auditor general.

The statement dated June 24 said that due to confusion among members of the public and state agencies dealing with the OAG, the agency saw the need to explain the facts of the issue.

The agency said that the State Audit Commission, to which the auditor general reports, stopped salary payments to Jaruvan on July 7 last year, one day after the Constitution Court ruled that her appointment process was unconstitutional.

Her most senior deputy, Puangrat Wongpho, was later appointed to take over Jaruvan’s responsibilities and serve as the acting auditor general, the statement said.

The statement insisted that the State Audit Commission’s nomination of Visut Montriwat as the new auditor general, who was later endorsed by the Senate, was in line with the relevant laws and regulations.

Jaruvan told The Nation last night that her status remained unchanged without Royal command to replace her with a new attorney general.

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