Suthi Boonmee, a director of the investigation and special affairs office, made the comment in outlining the procedures to be used in investigating issues related to the PM purchasing dogs for two of his ministers and Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan’s expensive watches.

Suthi said that after the NACC had received the complaint, it would have to check the credibility of the account and then see if it had the authority under law to scrutinise the issue.

Only if the matter passed those first steps would the case be on the NACC table, he said. The nation’s official graft busters would only then decide if they would take on the case – or not, Suthi added.

Srisuwan Janya lodged a petition on Wednesday urging the NACC to scrutinise PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha for having bought Bangkaew puppies for two of his ministers. The Bt6,000 puppies were priced beyond the limit of the law limiting government officials to gifts valued under Bt3,000.

Suthi said that it should not be too difficult to check the credibility of the case, given it had been a matter that garnered public interest over the past couple of days.

However, he said the agency had to consider whether it was within the NACC’s power and whether it could deemed a case involving “unusual wealth”. If it turned out to be a normal criminal case, the NACC would not have the authority to take it on.

Regarding the possession of seemingly undeclared luxury watches by Deputy PM and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, Suthi said that Prawit had already sent an explanation letter to the agency. It is examining the letter and other evidence such as the asset list Prawit that had declared upon taking office, he said.

The NACC secretary-general said on Wednesday that the agency would inform the public in a press conference of the progress of the Prawit case alongside others on Friday.

“Prayut’s remarks should open and clarify his position more as he is always targeted by politicians as a military representative,” Paiboon said.

Paiboon now heads the so-called People’s Reform Network, a group that observers expect will register as a political party prior to the next election. The network’s agenda is clearly to support Prayut to continue in the premier’s post after the next election, praising him as “a capable, honest administrator”.

Paiboon said that Prayut should clarify his future political path after June, when all four organic laws related to election should be in place.

While Prayut is unable to become an MP candidate as he did not resign from premiership by 90 days after the new charter’s promulgation, he could be nominated by political parties or by a majority vote of the combined Upper and Lower Houses as stipulated in the charter, he added. Members of the Senate will be appointed after the next election.

Prayut said he could not be considered a military officer as he retired from the army for three years ago.

His government, he added, is a mixture of civilians and military officers.

Prayut said it would be the right of political parties to join forces if they were legitimate parties with proper membership and public acceptance.

Pichai on Tuesday said he did not believe a national election would be held this year and that he wanted to see political parties team up to bring back democracy rather than joining forces with the military.

The 91-year-old veteran politician said he did not think he would have the chance to see the return of democracy in his lifetime. Given the new Constitution and the 250 junta-appointed Senate members, it seems that those in power want to continue their rule, he said.

With that in mind, there was not way that political parties could fight [against entrenched military interests] unless they joined forces to do so, he said.

PM Prayut said if those involved in politics believe that they have ideologies for governing the country, they should have no fears that people would abandon them.

Politics this time should not be a battle fought over whether the military is trying to cling to power, he said, noting that the people would cast their votes to determine the country’s future politics.

Citizens and the media should think carefully about whom they should vote for, he said.

“I myself don’t want to have power just because power is there for the ruling. Today I’m a PM who oversees the government and has never applied the military mindset, except for pushing ahead implementation,” said Prayut.

He said that the roadmap would be followed, including passing the last two organic laws required before the election is called. People should not accuse him of dragging his feet on calling the election, as it is the Constitution Drafting Commission’s business and he cannot intervene, he said.

Asked whether the election would still be held in November, Prayut said that has already been announced.

“When we talk about the military, it includes the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Their duties are not involved with politics. I think it is good to differentiate them from political arena,” Abhisit said during a radio interview.

“No grudge should be specially held against either politicians or military people,” he added.

“In principle, they both can serve the country.”

Abhisit was commenting after Prayut admitted his political status for the first time since assuming the premiership more than three years ago. The premier’s comments also elicited another backlash against the recently embattled regime.

The retired general had repeatedly distanced himself from politicians, whom he often called the cause of the country’s “accumulating problems”.

The ruling junta has been seen by political observers as weakening traditional politicians and parties, including Prayut’s most recent invocation of Article 44, requiring existing parties to “update” their entire membership lists.

While Prayut had confirmed that the election would be held “following the road map”, while stipulating further conditions in the order, he should also declare that the junta would ensure that the timeline would be followed strictly, Abhisit said.

“If there is any necessity [to postpone the election], it should be stated clearly so everyone can rest assured about [Prayut’s] honesty,” he added.

Prayut added that he has no further information on the photographs or her whereabouts.

Yingluck vanished from Thailand last August before she was expected to hear the final verdict in a case stemming from her government’s rice-pledging scheme

The verdict was postponed for a month, when she was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Various sources have pointed to the UK is a likely refuge for Yingluck, given that her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, owns a residence and several businesses there.

Last week, local media released two photos of a woman shopping in London and Oxford. While the woman’s features are not clearly seen, she appeared to resemble Yingluck.

A day later, Facebook page @secret100million posted a photo showing a woman who looks like Yingluck and a boy, who resembles her 15-year-old son Supasek Amornchat, in a shopping mall in London.

Thaksin and his children spent their New Year holidays in Japan. They have not commented on the photos.

There have been suggestions that the vetting committee tweak the bill so as to make the MP bill effective three months after it is published in the Royal Gazette.

Taweesak Sukawatin, spokesman of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA)’s law vetting committee, said the legislators had not revised or discussed the issue in the bill.

The committee had already completed revisions to the MP bill and expected to submit the report to the NLA within two weeks, he said.

Taweesak said the committee had only made a few changes to important clauses.

First, it had reversed the stipulation on the refund of application fees to candidates who won more than 5 per cent of votes. He said the state had to spend tens of billions of baht to hold an election. Also, such a stipulation would increase unnecessary work for the Election Commission, he added.

Another issue amended in the bill regarded opinion polls during the run-up to the general election. Taweesak said the vetting committee had not been strict and still allowed such polls.

However, the polls must be conducted only by bona fide organisations with a clear methodology and no ill intentions to sway the voters, he said. Such surveys must end at 6pm before election day, he added.

He said exit polls were allowed but the results should not be revealed until the ballot boxes were closed.

Apart from that, the vetting committee had also discussed electronic channels as a new means of election campaigning. The committee would leave the matter for the EC to decide, he said.

The committee, however, recommended that the EC have candidates who use such means register themselves and provide information about the online accounts they would use, and that any online campaigning should be stopped three days prior to voting day, Taweesak said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai yesterday ordered an investigation into a Facebook post by the Thai Embassy in Finland giving advice about preparing for a general election tentatively to be held in November.

Don said he had not ordered the embassy to make the post. “I’m not sure whether the post is merely the embassy’s mistake or somebody hacked into the embassy’s Facebook account. I have ordered an inquiry into the incident,” Don said.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has not yet announced the official date of the general election, but he has implied that it should be held in November.

On its Facebook page, the embassy invited Thais in Finland and Estonia who wished to vote in the election to prepare necessary documents. The statement, titled “Preparation of the overseas election in 2018”, said the government was preparing for a general election in November this year.

Eligible voters were informed to prepare personal documents such as identity cards and valid passports.

“If the information in those documents had changed, the holders are urged to notify the embassy to update them,” read the statement, which has now been taken down from the Facebook page.

PRIME MINISTER General Prayut Chan-o-cha admitted for the first time yesterday his status as a politician – an occupation he had earlier belittled and blamed for the country’s problems and conflicts.

The admission came in the same year in which the junta has promised to hold the next general election.

Many political observers see Prayut as the strongest candidate and likely to hold power after the election. He has held firm in his commitment that the election will be held in November, contingent on remaining organic laws being enacted in time and social stability maintained.

“I am no longer a soldier. Understood? I’m just a politician who used to be a soldier. I still have a soldier’s traits,” the prime minister said at his weekly press briefing yesterday.

When asked if he wants to be a politician for a long time, the former Army chief said: “I have never wanted to be a politician for a single day – since day one until today.

“But it was due to necessity” that he had taken on a politician’s role, he said. “And I am responsible for my own life.”

It was a rare, unexpected remark, since Prayut usually distances himself from politicians, from whom he seized power in the 2014 coup. He often blames the political class for “accumulating the country’s problems”.

His year-opening remarks also came ahead of political developments in 2018, when all election-related laws are supposed to be formulated with a promise that the next nationwide vote will be held in November.

The election, which is seen as a significant event marking the transition of power, could instead be a tool to prolong the power of Prayut and the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), according to political observers.

The organic laws and the 2017 Constitution have been written to not only weaken traditional politicians, but also strengthen emerging political parties, which could be the junta’s mechanism to stay in power after the election.

Prayut’s invocation of Article 44 order last month, which significantly amended the existing Political Party Act, has also been slammed by politicians as an attempt to decrease major parties’ support by requiring members to resubmit verification documents.

The premier, meanwhile, yesterday said the change was essential for people to “reconsider their preferences based on political ideologies rather than parties”.

“If [any party] has problems, the Election Commission will help solve them,” he said. “It may be a burden for those parties, but not the country.”

Prayut also indicated that the junta’s ban on political gatherings of five people or more, which has been in place since the 2014 coup, might not be lifted in the near future.

“From the security authorities’ evaluation, the country is orderly to some extent. But this is because the NCPO still rules,” he said. “If the ban is lifted, who knows what chaos will happen. An election can’t be held if conflicts are severe again.”

Running out of support?

For the year ahead, the premier said he would continue to focus on so-called national reforms and the national strategy – the latter being intended to be legally binding for future governments.

The National Economic and Social Development Board will collect reform models so “clear answers will be eventually told to the public”, Prayut said.

He also interpreted comments by Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda, who had said Prayut had “almost ran out of all his supporting force”, last week when he led Cabinet members to call on Prem ahead of the New Year holiday.

Prayut said he thought Prem meant he had utilised all of the capable people at his disposal.

“He always encourages us. He wouldn’t say anything to cause damage,” the prime minister added.

In a separate development, the government announced plans to draw up a road map to fight poverty based on HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy this year.

“We aim to reduce the number of poor people. Our help will first go to those registering themselves as low-income earners,” Prayut said.

In the next phase, the government planned to provide assistance under a province-based model.

“We will encourage groupings and inspire people to improve themselves,” he said.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha offered to sell pricey pedigree puppies that he had bought from local breeders during his Cabinet’s recent retreat in Phitsanulok.

The move came after Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, petitioned the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), seeking an investigation to determine whether the prime minister had condoned violations of the anti-graft law that prohibits public officials from accepting gifts valued at more than Bt3,000.

Prayut previously had said he would give puppies to both Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda and Deputy Prime Minister Chatchai Sarikalya.

The prime minister bought three young dogs belonging to the famous Bangkaew breed for Bt25,000, although the market price was Bt6,000 for each puppy. He said the extra money was meant to encourage local breeders.

Prayut yesterday was asked to comment on the possibility that his gifts to fellow Cabinet members could constitute a violation of the anti-corruption law. He responded: “I have not yet received any of the puppies that I paid for. Anyone interested may buy them from me.”

“I was just being considerate [of the breeders],” he said during his weekly press briefing at Government House. “The extra money was for vaccination and transport costs.

“I’m aware of the law,” he added. “[Anupong] told me he has to care for his dogs at home first,” Prayut said in an apparent joke.

Meanwhile, Anupong said he was aware that it was against the law for public office holders to accept gifts worth more than Bt3,000 and he would not accept a puppy from the prime minister because he knew that its price exceeded that amount. When asked to comment about Srisuwan’s petition with the NACC, the interior minister said the whistle-blower had the right to file it.

Also yesterday, Saner Chanput, the dog breeder from whom the premier bought the puppies, said Phitsanulok livestock authorities would deliver them|to Prayut after they were vaccinated.

The chief provincial livestock official, Thawat Pumnak, said the 47-day-old puppies would get the necessary vaccinations and later be delivered to the prime minister when they were healthy enough.

In a separate development, the NACC called a press conference for tomorrow to update its progress on the investigation into several graft complaints, including regarding the possession of a luxury watch by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, the NACC’s newly appointed secretary-general Worawit Sukboon said yesterday.

The agency launched an investigation a month ago into how and when Prawit acquired luxury watches and a diamond ring, since he had not included watches or rings in his list of assets submitted to the NACC in 2014 when he took office.

Prawit was caught by social media users wearing a multi-million-baht luxury watch about one month ago, leading to a deepening scandal.

The first document is the Five-year Plan of Action (2018-2022) to enforce cooperation and development projects, and the other is the Phnom Penh Declaration to express the countries’ political wills on political, economic and social cooperation.

Set up in 2015, the LMC comprises six riparian states of the Mekong River: China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The first summit was held in Sanya, China in 2016 to identify three pillars of cooperation: politics and security; economics and sustainable development; and society, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

Foreign ministers from the group met in Dali, China in the middle of December last year to consider the action plan, which included list of cooperation projects in key priority sectors. They are: connectivity, productivity capacity, cross-border economic cooperation, water resources, agriculture and poverty reduction, but details have not yet been made public.

The Phnom Penh Declaration would express political wills of the six countries to cooperate on political and security to maintain peace in the Mekong basin without interference in domestic affairs of members, according to a government official.

Prawit on Wednesday walked away from reporters at Government House when he was asked about a dozen luxury watches that he has been photographed wearing.

The deputy premier was caught by social media users wearing a luxury watch about one month ago, leading to a deepening scandal as photos of him wearing other watches, including Richard Mille models reportedly costing more than Bt3 million, were posted online.

Prawit failed to disclose any watches or rings in his assets lists declared to the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) in 2014 when he took office.

Under pressure by the public, the NACC launched an investigation into how and when Prawit acquired the assets that appeared in his possession and the deputy premier last week sent a letter to the agency purporting to explain how he obtained the watches.

The NACC has so far refused to reveal the details of the letter, but reports indicated that one Richard Mille watch was explained as having belonged to a recently deceased friend who had lent Prawit the item.