The legal inquiry is expected to be completed soon and a report sent to the Ombudsman for a ruling early this year, Raksagecha Chaechai, secretary-general of the Ombudsman’s Office, said.

The Association to Protect the Thai Constitution last year called on the Ombudsman to examine Sanit for allegedly violating the code of ethics by receiving a monthly allowance as an adviser to Thai Beverage, one of the country’s biggest producers of alcoholic drinks.

Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the association, had said it was wrong for a chief of police to be on the payroll of a major drinks company, because it could present a conflict of interest when it came to enforcing the law regarding alcohol consumption.

Alcohol Watch also questioned how a senior police officer could justify accepting payments from a major brewer.

The news of the payment became public when Sanit, as a member of the National Legislative Assembly, filed a mandatory declaration of his assets and sources of income to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

He has received the remuneration from the distiller since 2015.

Under ethics regulations, officials are prohibited from taking gifts worth more than Bt3,000.

Raksagecha added that the Ombudsman’s office is speeding up its investigation into the about 10 pending ethnics complaints against government officials and local politicians.

He said the office intends to complete the probes before the new charter goes into force so that the cases would not be dismissed.