PM's hotel meeting 'appropriate'
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Ombudsman Siracha Charoenpanij said yesterday he did not think Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had been involved in anything indecent when meeting with businessmen at a Bangkok hotel in February.
“The seventh floor of the Four Seasons hotel is an open area. Personally, I believe that people of this stature would not use such a place for anything improper,” he said.
The Ombudsman’s Office is conducting an investigation into the matter following petitions by the Green Politics Group and the Group of Women Volunteers Protecting the Land. The groups accuse the prime minister of skipping a House of Representatives meeting for personal reasons.
The opposition and critics attacked Yingluck for failing to make it clear whether the meeting was personal or part of her work. The prime minister and other government figures also gave conflicting accounts about the meeting.
Yingluck said she simply met some people at the hotel without having any meeting. Some Cabinet members said she met with a group of real-estate tycoons. Leading real-estate businessman Settha Thavisin had admitted to having met Yingluck there but there was no such confirmation by other businessmen mentioned in the reports.
According to Siracha, real-estate businessman Anan Asvabhokin, one of those mentioned in the news as having met Yingluck at the hotel, told the Ombudsman’s Office in writing he was not there. Settha, the chief executive of Sansiri real-estate company, had indefinitely postponed testifying before the ombudsmen, citing busy schedules.
“The ombudsmen are trying to complete the investigation as soon as possible in order to make things clear about this matter,” Siracha said.
Siracha said yesterday the ombudsmen had been at the hotel and found that the seventh floor, where Yingluck was supposed to have met some people, was an open area reserved for the hotel’s VIP guests.
He said the hotel’s manager did not give any information useful to the investigation. The hotel also told him recordings from its security cameras were erased every month and no video of the event would be available for the probe.
According to Siracha, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong, who was said to be at the meeting with Yingluck at the hotel, had written to the Ombudsman’s Office explaining the situation. “The most important point was his request that the ombudsmen give the prime minister the respect she deserves,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pheu Thai Party member Kamol Bandaiphet yesterday petitioned the Ombudsman’s Office, accusing opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva of using false documents when applying to become a lecturer at the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy.
Kamol said Abhisit had tended a false conscription paper when applying for his teaching job at the academy although he did not pass any draft. He added that he had enough evidence to prove his claim.
Sa-ngad Patthawi, deputy secretary-general of the Ombudsman’s Office who accepted Kamol’s petition, said yesterday he would refer the matter to the ombudsmen next week and they would decide whether to investigate the accusations.
