After having taken a break of nearly three years from his public duties, Klanarong Chantik, 63, last week got back to doing what he does best: busting official wrongdoings. In 2001, the former secretary-general of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) was instrumental in taking Thaksin Shinawatra, the recently ousted premier, to the Constitution Court for allegedly concealing his assets when he became prime minister.

The court narrowly acquitted Thaksin in a controversial eight-to-seven ruling, clearing the way for the wealthy ex-businessman's first four-year term of office, which began in early 2001.

The former premier and his spouse had been accused of hiding a significant portion of their wealth by transferring it to a housekeeper and a chauffeur, thereby removing it from the couple's official asset declaration.

Klanarong completed his first tour of duty at the NCCC in 2003 and later attempted to return to the anti-corruption body, though his bid for a second term was unsuccessful.

However, the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), which overthrew the Thaksin government on September 19, last Thursday decided to name Klanarong one of the nine new members of the NCCC.

"We've not had a functioning NCCC for over two years [due to the government's inability to appoint a new commission], so we have a huge backlog of over 10,000 cases that have piled up the NCCC, some of which are nearing the expiry of the statute of limitations," said Klanarong, who graduated from Thammasat University's Faculty of Law in 1963.

"The new NCCC is therefore prioritising all these cases, especially government procurement contracts involving bid collusion allegations.

"Having attended two meetings already, my impression is that all the new NCCC members and the chairman are quite determined to help bring the country out of this political crisis.

"They could do so by giving their best in investigating key corruption cases alleged to have been committed by the former Thaksin government. Some of these are still lingering in the public's mind.

"I think every NCCC member is straightforward and has no hidden agenda. We shouldn't be anyone's political tool," he said.

Klanarong first joined the now-defunct counter-corruption commission in 1976. In 1997, this agency was upgraded into the NCCC, an independent body under the new Constitution that was created to get tougher with corrupt public officials.

In the wake of the September 19 coup, the NCCC legislation was re-instated by the military's CDR so the agency could get back to investigating several corruption cases alleged to have taken place during the Thaksin years.

Widespread corruption was cited as one of the major reasons for the putsch.

To date, Rakkiat Sukthana, a former public health minister, has been the highest-level politician convicted under the NCCC law.

He is currently in jail for taking a multimillion-baht bribe in a government drug procurement a few years ago.

Another politician, Maj-General Sanan Kachornprasart, was found guilty of concealing assets. In 2001, he was banned from politics for five years.

"As an official graft-buster for the past three decades, I've never had any regrets about any particular case, including the case against former premier Thaksin, even though the court eventually ruled by a razor-thin margin in his favour.

"The Thaksin case was quite solid back then. I think further investigation is still possible as far as tax payments relevant to the 2001 case are concerned.

"If I were to compare, I think the public currently has much bigger expectations of the NCCC than it did five or six years ago - largely because people on average are better informed and more politically active.

"They're worried about possible abuses by the former premier and

his numerous cabinets over the past several years. All these people are required to officially declare their assets and liabilities within 30 days after leaving office.

"We should have their papers by October 19. Actually, I'm not sure if the envelopes containing their previous asset-declaration forms, filed after the first four-year term of the Thaksin government ended in 2005, have been opened and properly investigated.

"We will also need to examine the forms filed after the Thaksin 2 government was sworn in last year. Altogether, there should be three different forms covering the assets and liabilities of the ex-premier and ministers for comparative study. These documents will form the basis for our investigation.

"Besides the NCCC, I think other bodies - especially the Office of the Auditor-General and the new Sawat Chotepanich assets-probe commission - also carry a heavy burden in terms of meeting public expectations as far as corruption-busting is concerned," said Klanarong.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

nop1122@yahoo.com