Watcharapol elected NACC chief, denies being junta stooge

Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit won seven out of nine votes from NACC members in a secret ballot.

Watcharapol is among five new members recently endorsed by the National Legislative Assembly to replace the retired NACC chairman and four other members who have completed their terms.

Watcharapol and Preecha Lertkamolmart, one the four serving NACC members who remained on the commission, were both nominated for the chairmanship of the anti-graft body. 

National Legislative Assembly president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai will seek royal endorsement of the new chairman and the four other incoming members.

Watcharapol, who was formerly Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan’s secretary general, denied that he had been ordered by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to use the NACC as a political tool, as has been widely speculated.

He said the NACC would work according to the votes of all nine |members and that he would be |unable to overrule the other eight members.

He added that he felt challenged |by the NACC’s backlog of cases, but |that he would ensure the anti-graft body’s transparency.

Watcharapol is seen as very close to Prawit and the NCPO because he was appointed acting police commissioner general after Pol General Adul Saengsingkaew was transferred to an inactive post at the PM’s Office following the coup. At the time, Adul was an NCPO member whose removal from his role as police chief was explained by the junta as intended to reduce his subordinates’ pressure on him.

Watcharapol has held several key positions in the Royal Thai Police, including as the commissioner of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau and as police spokesman during Pol General Patcharawat Wongsuwan’s term as national police chief.

In early 2010, Watcharapol was a candidate for the post of national police chief but was eventually edged out by Pol General Wichian Photephosri.

Following the 1991 coup, Watcharapol was appointed as secretary general of the deputy prime minister.

After the most recent coup, Watcharapol was appointed as a National Legislative Assembly member and as secretary general to the deputy prime minister, which led to further speculation that he was closely connected with the NCPO. 

After the five NACC seats were vacated, Watcharapol resigned from both posts to contest for a seat.

Following widespread speculation that Prawit supported Watcharapol’s bid for the NACC seat, the deputy prime minister began to distance himself from his former secretary.

“I knew nothing about his quest for the NACC post,” Prawit said. “It’s his matter and not related to me because I have no pending case in the NACC.”

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha also denied that the NCPO and Prawit had manoeuvred to place Watcharapol at the head of the NACC. Prayut said the general was elected based on NACC member votes, so the NCPO could not have engineered his success.

But the spread of votes, with only two for Watcharapol’s rival Preecha, seemed to underline the perception that he was a favourite of the NCPO. 

Preecha had been seen as a stronger candidate because he had worked for the NACC since assuming the post of secretary general at the commission.

As a result, observers believe Watcharapol’s most urgent task is to shake off the perception that he is an NCPO loyalist and ensure the anti-graft body is seen as independent and fair. Watcharapol would also have to forge a sense of unity among the incoming NACC members and the incumbents for the body to operate efficiently.