Pheu Thai prepares impeachment move over relief 'interference'

Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said he had instructed permanent secretary Norkhun Sitthipong to find out how |opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was able to get his hands |on the ministry’s relief kits to |hand out to flood victims when he visited the province last month.
Norkhun said he learned that the governor had reluctantly given the kits to Abhisit upon Warong’s request.
The Constitution prohibits MPs from interfering in government officials’ work.
Pichai referred to Phitsanulok Governor Preecha Ruangkhan’s letter submitted to the Interior Ministry saying that he felt uncomfortable having to hand over the 500 relief bags to Warong.
During a debate in the House of Representatives last week, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok broke the news about Abhisit’s distribution of the Energy Ministry’s provisions.
Pichai said Abhisit’s conduct caused the ministry’s rations to run short of plan.
Warong earlier said an Energy Ministry inspector had told him, as the province’s representative, that the ministry was in charge of emergency relief for the Phitsanulok flood crisis and offered help related to the flood problem if needed.
Before Abhisit’s visit he had heard that the victims still needed material assistance, so he asked the provincial energy office if there were some to give away.
The office told him that 500 extra bags remained but they had already been transferred to the governor, who is under the Interior Ministry, before the Energy Ministry team left the province.
Warong then called the governor, who initially said he did not know that there were still 500 relief kits available but if they were, the Democrats could distribute them to the people. That makes Pichai’s statement that his ministry’s distribution plan was disrupted a lie, Warong said.
The Democrat Party did not try to claim the relief kits as its contribution but always said they came from the Energy Ministry, he said.
Pichai yesterday refused to comment on the issue but said Warong was a politically dead man. He was also consulting legal experts about the possibility of suing Warong for libel.
Reacting to deputy government spokesman Anusorn Eiamsa-ard’s statement that the Interior Ministry should look into MPs’ interference in flood-relief distribution in all provinces, Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit said the investigation should take place only where complaints were lodged, not in every province.
The first priority was the |people’s needs but the details |would vary according to the area, he said.