Government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the junta had ordered an investigation into the allegations that officials of those companies had accepted bribes from the British engineering giant.

“The perpetrators must be punished. And measures are being set to prevent the problem in the future. All Thai people must help – whether they are politicians, state officials, private-sector employees or citizens. They must not be involved in corruption,” the spokesman said. “They should not push the burden of tackling corruption to the government only,” he added. However, a Pheu Thai Party politician said the government should be serious about tackling the corruption problem by fairly treating cases against all sides, including people close to government figures.

Somkid Chueakong, a former MP for Ubon Ratchathani, claimed that people close to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and even certain government figures had been accused of irregularities but the authorities had taken no clear actions against them. He said politicians had often been blamed for corruption but people from many sectors were involved in irregularities.

Somkid also said the Rolls-Royce scandal was a good indication that corruption had existed in Thailand for a long time and that it involved all groups of people. He said that even under this post-coup government, accusations of bribery and kickbacks remained.

“The government can’t stay idle. They must be serious about tackling corruption. And don’t just point their finger at others,” he said.

Sansern maintained that the post-coup administration was serious about tackling the corruption problem.