Clarification sought directly from Kittiratt
A motion filed in the House against Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong in relation to his "white lies" controversy has been postponed to next week because the minister is attending to official duties overseas.
Though Kittiratt had given his deputy Tanusak Lekuthai the authority to answer the motion filed by opposition Democrat MP Kiat Sittheeamorn in the House yesterday, the MP insisted that the answers be provided by Kittiratt himself or the prime minister.
"Other people cannot clarify things for him because he was the one who admitted to telling white lies," Kiat said.
Last Thursday, Kittiratt admitted that sometimes he had to tell "white lies" in order to boost confidence in the country’s economy.
Tanusak told the House that Kittiratt could not attend the meeting because he was participating in the three-day Apec Finance Ministers’ forum in Moscow, which wraps up today.
"The schedule was planned in advance. He has no intention of avoiding any questions," Tanusak said.
Separately, Democrat MP Chanin Rungsang, as chairman of the House committee on economic development, said his panel was thinking about issuing an "order" for officials to clarify the government’s rice-pledging scheme and distribution of the rice stockpile after officials refused to show up when summoned previously.
"The committee will issue an invitation letter for them to present their clarifications on September 5. If they refuse to come for a third time, the committee will follow the process as per the House and Senates’ summons," he said.
The committee needs a majority vote to issue a warning letter and then needs votes from more than half of its members to issue a summons. The letter has a legal mandate in that the receivers will be seen as breaking the law if they refuse to attend, Chanin said.
Only six of the 15 members of the committee come from the opposition.
