Brother of Thai junta leader cleared of corruption

By Max Constant

BANGKOK

Thailand has cleared the brother of its junta leader of corruption, putting discrepancies in a compulsory assets declaration down to a "technical mistake".
Sansern Poljeak, the secretary-general of the country's anti-corruption commission, said that the general had been found not guilty of trying to conceal his and his wife's assets in a declaration amounting to $2.5 million.
“All ten saving accounts owned by Gen. Preecha Chan-ocha and his wife were correctly included in the assets declarations, although they were listed on different pages,” the Bangkok Post reported Poljeak as saying.
“There could have been just a technical mistake."
Media had been left puzzled by apparent discrepancies when Chan-ocha - the military's chief in northern Thailand - declared his assets when he became a member of the junta-appointed National Assembly last year.
In particular, journalists wondered why Chan-ocha had mentioned a bank account owned by a military cooperative.
On Thursday, the Post reported Poljeak as saying that the brother of junta leader-cum-prime minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha technically had the authority to withdraw funds from the account, but “this does not mean that the funds were in his possession or in his wife’s possession”.
Instead, Poljeak praised Preecha's honesty for including the account, underlining that he had done so without owning the funds stored in it.
Preecha - who was a strong competitor to become army chief at the beginning of the month, but lost a last minute contest to Gen. Theerachai Nakvanich -- and his wife declared assets amounting to $2.5 million.
The monthly salary for a general in the Thai army is around $3,000.