Justice Minister Suwanphan Tanyuvardhana said the OAG was empowered to seek evidence in the cases from both countries under bilateral cooperation agreements so that Thai anti-graft authorities could use the evidence to pursue legal actions against bribe recipients.

There are five bribery and corruption cases under consideration by the OAG, Suwanphan said, adding that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had reported that there was already preliminary evidence in which Thai officials were mentioned as receiving multi-million-baht bribes in return for deals in which THAI purchased Rolls-Royce aircraft engines from the early 1990s to 2006.

Part of the evidence was related to individuals alleged to have received illegal payments from the UK-based engine maker, but there was still missing evidence held by overseas sources that needed to be pursued, Suwanphan said.

He added that the NACC had already assigned a subcommittee to investigate the Rolls-Royce case involving the airline.

To expedite the bribery and other corruption cases, the OAG would be asked to work with UK and US counterparts to get more evidence for investigators to bring to court.

Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry and other anti-graft agencies will also study the Finance Ministry’s proposals to prevent future bribery cases regarding public procurements.