Thai electoral officials on Monday recommended that nine top allies of ousted prime Thaksin Shinawatra face criminal charges of vote fraud. An investigation by the Election Commission found that nine senior members of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party were guilty of vote fraud in polls last year, the panel's chief Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn told AFP.
"The Election Commission found nine executives of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party guilty of violating election law under the Thai constitution and the criminal code," he said.
"We will ask the police to conduct a further investigation, and they will decide whether to proceed with the case by bringing it to prosecutors," he said. Suthiphon declined to say which officials were implicated or exactly what charges they faced.
The move followed last month's verdict by an army-installed court that dissolved Thai Rak Thai and barred Thaksin and 110 other top members from political office for five years.
The ruling stemmed from offences linked to general elections in April 2006, which were later annulled by the courts. The latest findings add to a legal onslaught against Thaksin, his family, and his political allies.
Anti-corruption authorities said Monday they had frozen another 4.7 billion baht (143.6 million dollars) of Thaksin's money, after earlier blocking more than 1.5 billion dollars of his assets.
The Supreme Court is considering corruption charges against him over a land deal, while police have summoned him to Bangkok this week to hear new charges of fraud. Thaksin has denied any wrongdoing. He has been living in exile since the coup that ousted him in September 2006 and has given no indication of when he might return.
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