BJT's Boonjong attends vote-buying hearing
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The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders conducted its first hearing yesterday in a case in which opposition Bhum Jai Thai executive Boonjong Wongtrairat is accused of buying votes ahead of a December 2010 by-election that he wo
Six prosecution witnesses testified yesterday.
One, a local Election Commission official, said authorities investigated after a complaint by Boonjong’s rival Apicha Lertpatcharakamol of the Pheu Thai Party.
It was found that most witnesses said they did not see Boonjong at a November 2010 seminar of Nakhon Ratchasima community leaders in Rayong that the politician was accused of sponsoring. Some 300 eligible voters from the northeastern province attended the seminar.
At that time, Boonjong was a Cabinet minister, contesting a by-election in the Nakhon Ratchasima constituency where the seminar participants came from, while Pheu Thai was in opposition.
Apicha said during yesterday’s court trial that he found a video clip on Youtube video-sharing website about the seminar in Rayong before bringing the case to court. However, he did not find out if Boonjong had paid the costs of the event.
Sommart Raksa, a Nakhon Ratchasima resident who took part in the seminar, told the court she saw Boonjong in front of an auditorium hall in Chakarat district where seminar participants had left on buses. However, the witness said she did not see him in Rayong.
She said that during the seminar, organisers did not say Boonjong was a sponsor and no mention was made of him being a candidate in the by-election.
Boonjong, who attended the court yesterday, said that defence witnesses would be heard from tomorrow until Friday, and he would produce – among his nine witnesses – top provincial officials from Nakhon Ratchasima who organised the seminar in question, plus others who participated.
“I am confident that I will be able to prove that I had no involvement in holding the seminar,” he said.
