A panel investigating permanent secretary for transport Supoj Saplom's alleged unusual wealth has decided to discontinue its investigation, citing a lack of information.
PM's Office permanent secretary Thongthong Chandrangsu, who heads the inquiry committee, said yesterday the panel has decided to cease its probe because there was insufficient information to submit to the transport minister to launch disciplinary proceedings against Mr Supoj.
It should now be left to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and other agencies to investigate and reach a conclusion on the issue, Mr Thongthong said.
He said the committee will ask the Transport Ministry to follow up on the case closely.
Mr Supoj said yesterday that it depends on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to decide if he should be reinstated while the NACC probe is under way.
He has been moved to the Prime Minister's Office on temporary duties following the scandal.
Citing the Thongthong committee's decision, he said the robbery suspects' statement about volumes of cash in his house did not have grounds.
Mr Supoj has insisted he lost 5 million baht during the robbery at his house on Nov 12 last year, not hundreds of millions of baht as has been alleged.
The suspects claimed to have seen a cash fortune in the house which they estimated was worth between 700 million and 1 billion baht.
Mr Supoj is scheduled to appear before the NACC to clarify the unusual wealth allegations on March 8.
He insisted that he had solid evidence and witnesses to back up his claim of innocence.
He also said he can explain the origins of his wealth accumulated over the years.
The NACC earlier came out to tell the public it found about 20 million baht in several of Mr Supoj's bank accounts, but Mr Supoj insisted that he had accumulated the amount of money from overtime work between 1978 and 2002.
"During that time I was just a junior engineer with no authorisation to approve [construction] projects and the money was not transferred at one time. So I am ready to clarify," he said.
A source at the Transport Ministry said no new investigation would be ordered against Mr Supoj, pending the NACC's findings.
However, the source said that the Thongthong committee's decision does not mean Mr Supoj is cleared of the allegations.
"The panel didn't find any grounds, but the NACC said otherwise," the source said.
"So we need to see the results of a full NACC investigation."
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