NACC, prosecutors to meet again over Yingluck rice-pledging case
Play
Fail to agree that anti-graft agency's criminal petition is ready for court
The National Anti-Corruption Commission and public prosecutors will meet again on November 7 in a bid to settle their differences as to whether a criminal petition prepared by the NACC is complete enough to bring former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to Supreme Court's criminal division for political office holders.
The Office of the Attorney-General and the NACC yesterday could not reach an accord on “only one or two points”, said deputy attorney-general Vudhibhongse Vibulyawongse.
Vudhibhongse declined to identify the sticking points.
“We may or may not reach a conclusion,” he said in reference to the November 7 meeting.
Vudhibhongse met with the NACC team, which was headed by NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljieak, at the anti-graft agency’s headquarters in Nonthaburi in the morning.
He dismissed an allegation that public prosecutors were attempting to “drag their feet” in the case.
“We want to complete this case as soon as possible. We have many other things to do. There are several cases in our hand,” he said.
Sansern said that only a few points were discussed yesterday due to the failure to agree on a number of points.
He said the public prosecutors suggested that the NACC interview more witnesses “to get additional facts”.
Yesterday’s gathering was the second meeting between the two agencies regarding the criminal case, in which Yingluck is accused of dereliction of duty for failing to terminate her government’s rice price-pledging scheme despite corruption and massive losses.
If both sides agree on the petition, it would be filed with the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders.
When asked by a reporter if the NACC would bring the case to the court alone, Vudhibhongse said that it was too early to do that.
“We are now collecting evidence and discussing the contrasting views. We should first talk about some points that we think are still incomplete,” he said.
He also said that more witnesses should be interviewed and noted that Yingluck’s request for more of her witnesses to be allowed to give additional testimony to NACC investigators was rejected.
In a related development, the National Legislative Assembly had not obtained a formal NACC request for the impeachment of Yingluck as of yesterday, according to the assembly’s vice president Surachai Liengboonlertchai.
NLA member Somchai Sawangkarn said the matter would be included in the assembly’s meeting agenda within 30 days after the body got a formal request.
Yingluck’s lawyer Pichit Chuenban held a press conference at a Bangkok hotel yesterday, where he accused the NACC of acting too hastily in its investigation against the former prime minister.
Pichit said that the anti-corruption agency had relentlessly pushed for a criminal case against Yingluck despite reservations by the Office of the Attorney-General.
He added that public prosecutors had pointed out that there was insufficient evidence against Yingluck and that the NACC’s investigation was incomplete.
He also called on the NLA to carefully consider whether it had the power to impeach Yingluck.
He said that the 2007 Constitution, which empowered the Senate to impeach political office-holders, was abolished after the coup in May.
“The lawyer team is not involved with politics. We just want justice to be served for Yingluck,” Pichit said.
