Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has defended her decision not to declare a 2.5-million-baht watch she claims to have sold before taking up the premiership.
Yingluck: Decided not to report sale
Ms Yingluck recently discussed her decision about the watch which was absent from a statement of assets given to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), said Thawatchai Siristanapan, director of the NACC's asset examination office.
The former prime minister told the NACC that she had paid for the watch, and then sold it to buy other ornamental items. The deal was made before she assumed the post of premier in 2011, and she decided not to report it in her asset statement filed with the anti-graft agency, he said.
The issue of the mysterious watch rose to prominence when Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva alleged, during a no-confidence debate on Nov 26 last year, that the watch was absent from Ms Yingluck's asset statement. The NACC had asked for additional evidence from Ms Yingluck regarding the watch deal twice before, as it wanted to know when she had bought it and to whom she had sold it.
So far, there has been no answer from Ms Yingluck on the matter.
The NACC plans to check with the company that sold the watch to Ms Yingluck, to see whether there had been any kind of deal, said Mr Thawatchai. A source said Ms Yingluck's latest asset statement showed she had nine watches, but the 2.5-million baht luxury watch was absent from the statement.
The NACC yesterday revealed the assets of 10 former cabinet ministers of the Yingluck government who had been removed from office on May 7, 2014 as a result of the Constitutional Court's ruling on the Thawil Pliensri transfer case.
Of the 10 former ministers, Plodprasop Suraswadi, former deputy prime minister, is the richest, followed by Ms Yingluck.
Mr Plodprasop has assets of more than 967.5 million baht, followed by Ms Yingluck with 574.3 million baht. Meanwhile, Ms Yingluck's assets increased by 37.59 million baht from the date she was sworn in as premier.
Ms Yingluck and her husband had assets totalling 603.19 million baht, while their debts came to 28.85 million baht.
Compared with when she took office as defence minister, her latest assets disclosure showed her net assets had fallen by 25.47 million baht, while her debts grew by 1.85 million.The decrease was due to lower deposits.
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Pol Gen Pracha Promnok was the third-richest minister, as his assets stood at about 396.6 million baht.
He was followed by ex-deputy defence minister Gen Yuthasak Sasiprapa with 306.6 million baht, ex-labour minister Pol Capt Chalerm Yubamrung with 171.1 million baht and former deputy prime minister and former finance minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong with 57.6 million baht.
Former agriculture and agricultural cooperatives minister Siriwat Kachornprasart was next with 47 million baht, followed by former deputy prime minister and ex-foreign affairs minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul with 37.4 million baht. Former information and communication minister Anudit Nakorntap had 16.2 million baht and former PM's Office minister Santi Prompat had 14.4 million baht.