Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission secretary-general Dussadee Arayawuth faces the prospect of being transferred following his investigation into several corruption cases involving politicians.
He suspects people involved in the ongoing cases might have lobbied to have him moved, but he has vowed not to abandon the cases.
A Justice Ministry source said Pol Col Dussadee is expected to be transferred to a deputy permanent secretary post when the ministry's reshuffle list goes before the cabinet for approval on Tuesday.
The source said the transfer would free Pol Col Dussadee of graft-busting projects he has been working on, including the alleged importation of contraband luxury cars with the complicity of politicians and state officials.
Department of Special Investigation deputy chief Prawet Moolpramuk is tipped to replace Pol Col Dussadee.
Pol Col Prawet has been overseeing the investigation into the 2010 military crackdown on red shirt demonstrators. His promotion would be seen as a reward for his role in the probe, the source said.
Justice Minister Pracha Promnok has given notice of a reshuffle of ministry senior officials. Some will replace officials due to retire at the end of September.
The ministry source said Pol Gen Pracha yesterday asked Pol Col Dussadee to meet him at his house to let him know of the transfer decision.
Pol Col Dussadee said yesterday he knew nothing about the transfer reports. But he jokingly said that if they were true, he would be grateful to the government and the Justice Ministry for giving him the deputy permanent secretary post and for their support for his anti-graft efforts.
He said the government would publicly declare its achievements in its anti-corruption efforts on Sept 14, which means he had fulfilled the tasks and the government had given him a promotion as a reward.
Pol Col Dussadee said the government had assigned the PACC to investigate state officials suspected of being involved in fraudulent lending by state-owned banks, public land encroachment and the evasion of tax on imported luxury cars.
The first case concerns President Agri Trading Co, which allegedly used fake rice trade contracts to seek loans from at least nine private and state-owned banks.
The borrowing with fake rice contracts used as collateral resulted in non-performing loans incurred by banks worth more than 30 billion baht. The case was forwarded to the National Anti-Corruption Commission for further investigation last week.
The land encroachment investigation concerns the illegal ownership of public land on forest reserves and along the southern coast facing the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.
The other case involves the evasion of tax on imported luxury cars.
The PACC found about 10,000 invoices of luxury cars imported from Britain were falsified. The prices declared were far below the actual value of the vehicles, an attempt to avoid paying full import taxes.
The PACC suspects that both politicians and Customs Department officials might be involved in the scam.
Pol Col Dussadee said he knew some of those connected to the tax evasion scam might have chipped in to have him transferred.
"But I can tell you that, wherever I go, I will always take the [anti-graft] cases with me. I definitely won't abandon them," he said.
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