Review of Prawit watch case rejected

Review of Prawit watch case rejected
In December 2017, Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, the deputy prime minister at the time, poses for pictures at Government House with another cabinet ministers while shielding his eyes from the sun. ( File image )

In a situation involving Prawit Wongsuwon’s opulent wristwatches, the anti-graft organization asked for evaluation, but the Supreme Administrative Court rejected that demand on Friday.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission( NACC ), which had been ordered to reveal the specifics of its investigation into the wristwatch controversy to political activist Veera Somkhwamkid, claimed there was no basis for the review sought by the court.

When Gen Prawit did not list 22 luxury watches and jewelry on his list of assets, the NACC ruled 5:3 in December 2018 that there was no evidence to support the claim that he had erroneously declared his money. They belonged to companions, according to Gen Prawit, and were since given back.

When Gen Prawit was seen wearing a silver Richard Mille RM 029 valued at about 2.5 million ringgit and an engagement ring on December 4, 2017, at an event held at the Government House, the luxury watch investigation was launched.

Mr. Veera petitioned the Supreme Administrative Court for the publication of the investigation’s information after the NACC dismissed the event, and the request was ultimately granted.

The NACC was mandated by the court’s decision to give Mr. Veera access to three pieces of data.

Fact-finding information, the anti-graft officials in charge of the case’s opinions, and meeting reports from the NACC were all included in them.

However, the NACC merely provided Mr. Veera with two pieces of information and refused to share the views of the case’s anti-graft officials.

The NACC secretary-general Niwatchai Kasemmongkol stated in an interview in August that the organization needed to maintain its integrity and that it was necessary to black out the witness names in the documents given to Mr. Veera in order to preserve the witnesses’ personality and dignity.