a "...'professional, transparent' [inquiry], although it will take some time." NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon asked the media not to ask about the matter again until "early next month" (February 2018). The Bangkok Post described NACC's handling of the case like this: "On Friday...the NACC announced its version of action. It intends in a couple of weeks, possibly, to consider steps that will lead to starting to get ready to prepare to study an entirely objective fact-finding into how a self-sacrificing minister of defence can live so frugally off a monthly salary that he can pick among Milles (3), Rolexes (7), Patek Philippes (4), Piguets (2)...every morning before setting off to work." , the NACC had still not concluded its eight month-long investigation, citing the "refusal" of Thai watch retailers to provide information on timepiece serial numbers. The NACC now has to seek ownership information from watch manufacturers. "This will take time..." said the NACC. In August 2018, eight months after Gen Prawit's watches became an issue, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha removed Prawit from the NCPO's National Anti-Corruption Committee. The committee has not met for over a year, but the optics of a powerful figure who is the subject of an NACC investigation on the committee invited derision. On 26 December 2018, the NACC unanimously cleared Prawit of any wrongdoing. On 3 January 2019, the NACC was asked in a letter from an opposition politician to explain why it did not find Prawit guilty of failing to declare 22 borrowed watches. The NACC did not reply until 25 May 2020, after 17 months had passed. The NACC then acknowledged that the owner of the watches lent them to Prawit. It also confirmed that Gen Prawit had returned the watches after he used them. The NACC said that this was a case of "loan for use", and, as such, was not required to be declared. The ruling was greeted with dismay by some civil groups. Miscellaneous In 2006, the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Juthamas Siriwan, was accused by the US Department of Justice of taking an estimated 60M baht bribe from a US couple in exchange for contracts to run the Bangkok International Film Festival Juthamas directed from 2003 to 2006. US authorities arrested the US couple in 2007. The US pair were convicted and sentenced to six months in prison three years later in 2010. In