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Published on April 15, 2008

Vicha said the NCCC might invite AEC members to testify or appoint them as subcommittee members to continue probing corruption allegations, mostly arising from the period under the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.

He said the NCCC was currently probing 90 cases involving land offences such as en-croachment on natural forestland allegedly committed by politicians in Koh Samui, Phuket, Chanthaburi and Trat.

He said the agency faced constraints, as - unlike the AEC - it cannot use anti-money laundering measures. It also cannot investigate cases in which state officials are not involved.

Vicha said that although the NCCC had been appointed by the Council for National Security (CNS), it is not instructed to directly handle special investigations.

"The NCCC works in a straightforward manner and has no hidden agenda placed on it by the CNS," he said.

Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) is planning to shorten the terms of the Election Commission and the NCCC by including a transitional provision in its proposed amendment of the 2007 Constitution.

PPP party-list MP Sukhum-pong Ngon-kham, deputy chief of the committee tasked with amending the charter, said the panel had been instructed to complete its draft by Thursday on a transitional provision to limit the term of temporary agencies such as the NCCC, Election Commission and Constitution Court.

"It is likely the draft will shorten their terms, since they were formed as temporary bodies,'' he said.

However, PPP Chiang Rai MP Samart Kaemeechai denied the panel had discussed shortening the term of the agencies, saying the charter-drafters had merely talked about limiting the role of the Election Commission to overseeing elections and about setting up an election court.

The Nation