The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) has regained the people's faith with its recent progress, especially in the probe into the Shin Corp share sale by the family of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra - one of the cases that interest people the most. A month after being set up amid high public expectations, the AEC was criticised heavily for its slow investigations. People felt the task could not have been that difficult as many cases seemed to have obvious irregularities or had been investigated already by agencies like the National Counter-Corruption Commission and the Office of the Auditor-General. But the AEC had to re-investigate the cases to make sure it had enough evidence.

This week, the AEC almost wrapped up the case related to the gift of Shin Corp shares by Thaksin's wife Khunying Pojaman to her brother Bhanapot Damapong. The AEC agreed on Monday to recommend that the Revenue Department collect back taxes for the transaction. However, it is unable to agree on whether and how to determine possible criminal offences by non-officials involved in the case.

There has also been progress in the probe into the sale of Shin shares between Thaksin's children Panthongtae and Pinthongta, and Ample Rich Investment Ltd. Irregularities seem likely after new information from the Revenue Department indicated that no money transaction was involved.

In another case of public interest, prominent witnesses will meet the AEC next Thursday over a land purchase by Pojaman.

Meanwhile, the Council of State's ruling that the two- and three-digit lotteries did not come under the Government Lottery Office Act of 1974 showed that there were problems with this Thaksin-initiated project.

Some progress has also been made in the investigation of cases related to Suvarnabhumi Airport, including the procurement of CTX 9000 scanners.

The AEC has divided the CTX investigation into two parts. One part is tracing the millions of baht allegedly paid as kickbacks and the other is questioning witnesses and looking into relevant laws.

AEC spokesman Totrakul Yomanak has said the case should be wrapped up by December 4.

At the same time, AEC member and Auditor-General Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka has guaranteed that she will finish investigating irregularities in the bidding for the airport's power network by the end of December. She said her office had finished its probe and the AEC only had to improve on the report for use in court.

Nevertheless, in many cases it is still uncertain what charges should be levelled and against whom, and up to what point the investigation should proceed.

In the case of the Agriculture Ministry's rubber seedling procurement, the AEC has summoned active and retired ministry officials and will have to visit farmers for first-hand information.

An AEC subcommittee is also collecting first-hand information about the Ua Athorn housing project with visits to residents of more than 180 sites and questioning more than 60 contractors.

The investigation into irregularities in the procurement of equipment for the central food laboratory also needs some further investigation.

More time will also be required for the investigation into the procurement of fire-trucks and fireboats for Bangkok city, as the AEC has only just received more than 13 boxes of documents from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). Similarly, the investigations into questionable lending practices by Krung Thai Bank officers, and irregularities in the airport-rail link still have some way to go.

Despite progress in several cases, there are many more, involving lots of complex investigation. The AEC's 11 members and their assistants are already working to the best of their ability, but the question remains on how many wrongdoers they can bring to book before their one-year term ends.

Budsarakham Sinlapalavan

The Nation