Thailand ? Thailand’s military rulers may freeze the assets of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and members of his Cabinet if evidence is found that they tried to transfer their wealth abroad, the head of a newly appointed anti-corruption panel said Monday.

The military council that ousted Thaksin last week also announced it would have a say in the creation of a new permanent constitution, reserving a political role for itself despite its vow to hand over power to an interim civilian government.

The military has cited corruption in the former Thaksin government as one of the reasons for its Sept. 19 coup, staged while Thaksin was in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings.

Suspicion has mounted that the beleaguered prime minister managed to fly out some of his vast assets before the coup. Airline officials said over the weekend that an aircraft chartered by Thaksin carried an unusually large amount of luggage.