THAI AUTHORITIES should enforce the anti-money laundering law in connection with the UN-sanctioned Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to beat the statute of limitations that protects some people who took bribes in the multi-million-baht Rolls-Royce scandal, an anti-graft academic says.

Sangsit Piriyarangsun, an associate professor at Rangsit University, yesterday told a seminar on corruption and national development that Thai authorities already have conclusive documentary evidence on bribery involving UK aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and Thai Airways International (THAI) and PTT, but no action has been taken against the individuals who received the bribes.

According to Sangsit, there were 52 pages of official document concerning PTT and another 40 concerning THAI on Rolls-Royce’s illegal payment of money to win lucrative deals from the two Thai state enterprises.

He said the evidence is conclusive and other countries have already identified those responsible for receiving the bribes and taken legal action against them.

For example, a former top executive of Garuda Indonesia airlines is facing charges.

Sangsit said there were more than 30 million pages of documentary evidence in the multi-country scandal so Rolls-Royce decided not to fight the case in court and had to pay a fine of more than US$800 million to US and UK anti-graft authorities to avoid further legal actions.

As well as Thailand, illegal payments were also made to officials in Indonesia and India in return for aircraft and other engine deals.

Sangsit said the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and other related agencies should be authorised to enforce the anti-money laundering law in connection with FATF which states that money laundering cases have no statute of limitations since some of the Rolls-Royce deals with Thai customers were signed more than 20 years ago.

At present, only Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Organisation (AMLO) can enforce the legislation, which is a key legal mechanism to fight corruption, so enforcement has been inadequate so far.

Based on existing evidence, the Rolls-Royce deals with THAI and PTT are under the jurisdiction of anti-money laundering law, according to Sangsit.

The academic also urged AMLO to quickly comply with the FATF requirements on adopting additional anti-money laundering measures including those concerning Thai banks to maintain the country’s status as a safe country for international financial transactions.

In overhauling the anti-graft mechanisms, he said, the NACC, Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), and Department of Special Investigation need to have authority to enforce the anti-money laundering law along with AMLO, which has to have a check-and-balance on its authority.

Meanwhile, Tewin Wongwanich, chief executive officer of PTT, said the state owned company has zero tolerance for corruption and the Rolls-Royce scandal will serve as a lesson to prevent future incidents. According to Tewin, more than 100 people are believed to be involved in the illegal payment of funds by Rolls-Royce to win business deals from PTT and an investigation is underway in cooperation with anti-graft authorities.

Sansern Poljieak, secretary general of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), yesterday said the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has expressed concern that the corruption offence carries the death penalty under Thai law.

He added that the NACC explained to the UK anti-graft agency that despite having the death penalty under anti-corruption law, no convicted wrongdoers had been sentenced to capital punishment.

Sansern said the NACC also allayed the SFO’s concern that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) would intervene by issuing orders under Article 44 of the post-coup interim charter. He added that the NACC was the main agency in charge of investigating corruption cases.

His agency also has confirmed with the SFO that it is the agency responsible for investigating the Roll-Royce bribery scandal, Sansern said.

Auditor General Pisit Leelavachiropas said yesterday that his office has the legal responsibility to investigate corruption allegations against state agencies or enterprises such as Thai Airways International, PTT and electricity authorities.