Abhisit defends Kasit's appointment
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Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva stepped forward yesterday to defend his decision to appoint Kasit Piromya as foreign minister in 2008, arguing that Kasit had not been indicted in connection with the street protests led by the yellow-shirt People'
Abhisit said Kasit’s case should not be compared to that of Natthawut Saikua, who has been given the deputy agriculture minister portfolio.
When Kasit was named foreign minister, he did not face any charges, Abhisit said, while Natthwut was already fighting myriad charges related to red-shirt protests before he took office in January. Abhisit also advised Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to review Natthawut’s position in the Cabinet in light of the ombudsman’s code of ethics being questioned.
Natthawut had earlier cast doubts on the professional ethics of Ombudsman Sriracha Charoen-panij in relation to the different rulings issued on two similar cases involving him and Kasit.
Sriracha had stated that he did not rule on the Kasit case because no complaints had been filed, but Natthawut said that in reality the ombudsman had indeed ruled in favour of Kasit and circulated the ruling in 2010. He then went on to claim that both he and Kasit faced terrorism charges, but the ombudsman had only faulted him.
Natthawut also said the Civil Court had drawn the same conclusion on both the yellow- and red-shirt protests – that they had gone beyond the freedom of public assembly sanctioned by the Constitution. He then said the ombudsman had cited his verdict but neglected to mention the judicial opinion on Kasit’s case.
On Wednesday, the Office of the Ombudsman blamed Sriracha’s confusing remarks on a flawed database, adding that subsequent document checks had rectified the problem. It explained that when the ombudsman ruled on the Kasit case, he was not facing any charges at the time of his appointment.
