Degree of farce belies gravity of situation

Tulsathit Taptim, The Nation Asia News Network, Bangkok

A well-respected graft investigator who rings an alarm bell over a potentially massive airport corruption scandal faces expulsion from office by a group of judges and lawmakers who quote an apparently illegal rule.

Fighting for her is a notorious politician wanting to turn over a new leaf. She is investigated by anti-money laundering authorities who refuse to take any initiative on the airport allegations.

Meanwhile, members of other anti-graft bodies who have done absolutely nothing somehow get the opposite idea about their performance, give themselves major pay rises and are being hounded out of office or are busy trying to cover up their sins. It reads like a bad script for a messy political comedy.

But what looks like farce is in fact reality in Thailand, and you have no choice but to laugh till you cry. So, when your tears run dry, please let me know your favorite part of this extraordinary story.

Snoh Thienthong, Patriot. If someone had told me three months ago this man would come charging in riding a white horse in a bid to rescue embattled Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka, I would have had that person committed. But give credit where credit is due. He must have had it with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. I shall reserve final judgment until he decides whether to back the opposition's censure motion against the government.

Who Broke the Law? The Constitution Court ruled Jaruvan's appointment was against the law, because more than one nominee had been proposed to the Senate. The Upper House then went through a new nomination process based on the one-nominee-only rule and came up with Visut Montriwat as the sole candidate for ultimate endorsement by His Majesty the King.

But hang on a minute! The nomination rule providing grounds for Visut's selection and challenge of Jaruvan's status has not yet been announced in the Royal Gazette. Possible interpretation: Jaruvan's nomination is not illegitimate, but Visut's may be. What will the Constitution Court and Senate do now after wiping the egg off their faces? Take a wild guess. But here's a sure thing: Nobody will resign or admit they made a mistake.

Finding AMLO. Where were you when we needed you? The CTX procurement scandal has been crying out for the swift, efficient tracking of the money trail while it's still hot, but not until a few days ago did our anti-money laundering officials announce an investigation. What on Earth have they been doing? Jaruvan suspected that much of AMLO's manpower had been mobilized to probe her money transfers, because there were rumors of a stunning discovery: She once moved Bt10,000 to a bank in Malaysia for a family holiday.

The NCCC Farce. At least AMLO didn't reward itself with or demand a pay rise. But I'm not sure which is more hilarious, the commissioners' decision to increase their own salaries or their initial refusal to quit when the Supreme Court's Political Crime Division ruled such an act was unlawful. The commissioners have finally been booed out of office, and those fatty crooks feeding off mega-projects like Suvarnabhumi Airport must still be wiping away tears of joy.

Panic Attack at the Constitution Court. This is my favorite part. First the judges insisted their self-awarded "meeting allowances" were legal, a different situation from the shameless decision of their NCCC counterparts. But the judges were clutching at straws and soon knew there was no point in kidding themselves. They agreed late last week to return the money, but the best part was they claimed credit for doing so. Court Secretary-General Paibool Warahaphaithoon said the decision to return the "appropriate" allowances was meant "to prevent confusion in society".

Too late, it seems, because during their trial last October, the disgraced NCCC members had tried to defend their act by citing the meeting allowances the Constitution Court judges enjoyed. In addition to their Bt100,000-plus salaries, Bt20,000 was paid in the form of a "meeting allowance" to each of the judges participating in three working seminars last year. Many must be curious to know whether one of them had to do with the Jaruvan verdict that was based on an apparently illegal rule.

As Thailand's anti-graft, justice and constitutional mechanisms crumble around him, or at least appear irrelevant, Thaksin has seemed unfazed.