The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) will coordinate the implementation of the five proposals made by a panel looking into the alleged mishandling of the hit-and-run case against Red Bull scion Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam gave details on Thursday of his meeting the day before with the PACC and the panel, headed by Vicha Mahakun, a former member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, over its "urgent" proposals.
The panel first recommended a re-investigation of those charges arising from the 2012 hit-and-run whose statute of limitations had yet to expire, including a drug charge that police never pressed against Mr Vorayuth.
It then recommended legal and disciplinary action against a number of people divided into eight groups.
Mr Wissanu said various people, including police officers, public prosecutors, lawyers and civilians, had allegedly been guilty of misconduct in their handling of the case.
The PACC would examine how the allegation related to each of those people and would then ask authorities to pursue legal or disciplinary action against them, he said.
In some cases both disciplinary and legal action would be taken, he said.
The Royal Thai Police, for instance, would be asked to probe the misconduct said to have been committed by its officers who were involved in the case.
The third point concerns a number of politicians who were members of the National Legislative Assembly and found to have been involved with the mishandling of the hit-and-run case.
The PACC would discuss with House Speaker Chuan Leekpai what course of action should be taken against those politicians, said Mr Wissanu. Further details were unavailable.
The Council of State will also be asked to provide guidelines for state office heads who authorise a representative to act on their behalf on important tasks.
The investigating panel learned that some office chiefs had abused their authority by permanently shifting responsibility to their subordinates, which affected decision-making in this case, he said.
The last proposal deals with a recommended amendment of office regulations, including those concerning the Office of the Attorney-General, he said.
He said, for example, that a single deputy attorney-general should not have been assigned to handle both a complaint filed by Mr Vorayuth and asked to decide whether or not to indict him at the same time.
Police will also be required to demonstrate clearly which regulations and criteria they are referring to when judging whether or not to oppose a public prosecutors' decision to not indict a suspect in a criminal case.
That was something the police were found to have failed to do in the Boss case, Mr Wissanu said.
