The former Cabinet minister claimed the agency’s probe was “politically motivated”.

But Sansern Poljiak, secretary-general of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, said no one had ordered the agency to conduct the probe and charge the politician. It was just the NACC’s work procedure, under which a panel would be set up to look into the matter to see if grounds for a case were found.

Sansern said the agency had not called on Watana to testify before, because the now-defunct Assets Examination Committee (AEC) had initiated an investigation against him and completed the process.

“There’s no need to repeat it again,” Sansern said.

The NACC press briefing was held in response to the politician’s accusation yesterday. Watana held a press conference at Pheu Thai’s office, slamming the agency for the fresh probe and charge against him.

Watana said the re-launch of a probe into a state housing project in which he was accused of malfeasance by anti-corruption officials was politically motivated.

This followed the NACC’s revelation on Wednesday that a joint panel comprising the NACC and the Office of the Attorney-General had been set up to look into contentious points in the case of alleged bribery against Watana over the Baan Eua-Arthorn housing project for the poor.

The NACC decided early this year to charge Watana with violating Articles 148 and 149 of the criminal code and committing malfeasance while on duty.

The penalties imposed range from a five-year jail term to execution, or a fine of up to Bt40,000.

Watana questioned whether the probe was being relaunched now because he was a severe critic of the government.

The case was investigated for more than 10 years by the former Assets Examination Committee. The AEC was set up as a result of the military coup in 2006, as part of a review of key state projects undertaken by the Thaksin Shinawatra government.

The Baan Eua-Athorn housing project, which planned to build 7,500 home units with a Bt2.5-billion budget, was among the cases.

An NACC source said the AEC initially found some irregularities in the project, but as its term ended it passed the investigation to the NACC, which worked on the case before reaching a conclusion.

Watana said he would follow the legal process and fight the accusations.