Bangkok - Thailand's corruption watchdog said Thursday it suspected Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was guilty of turning a blind eye to corruption when he was a civil servant.
The National Counter Corruption Commission will ask the civil service committee of the Justice Ministry, where Somchai used to work as permanent secretary, to consider retroactively firing him for dereliction of duty.
The case started in 2000 when a senior judge, Chamnan Rawiwanpong, complained about corruption involving the sale of court-owned land in a province near Bangkok and state fees not paid during the purchase. Somchai counter-attacked by demanding Chamnan's dismissal for disciplinary offences.