Only one more meeting on Yingluck case, NACC warns
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Anti-corruption agency vows to go ahead despite prosecutors' reluctance
The National Anti-Corruption Commission will unilaterally pursue the case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in connection with her government’s rice-pledging scheme if public prosecutors again refuse to take up the case, the NACC chief said yesterday.
NACC president Panthep Klanarongran said the anti-graft agency would most likely hold just one more joint meeting with the Office of the Attorney-General to discuss whether the case could be taken to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders.
He said that if the OAG again does not think the case merits criminal action, the NACC would act on its own in taking the case to court.
No date has been set for the next – the fourth – meeting between the Office and the NACC. Panthep expected it to be the final one.
He said the anti-graft agency would not interrogate any more people because it believed it had gathered enough information in the case.
Narong Rat-amarit, another NACC member, said the investigation over possible corruption related to the rice-pledging scheme during the Yingluck administration, involving her and four other cabinet members, was 80 per cent complete and the whole process was expected to be completed by early next year.
Narong said the matter was of importance, so it could not be rushed.
“This not like selling Thai black coffee. It is important to be fair to everyone … and importance must be given to those who are being examined.”
Asked if people’s wealth could be confiscated by the state if these people are found guilty, Narong said everything would be done in accordance with the law.
Two sides to issue
The four other ex-cabinet members whose assets and debts are being scrutinised by the NACC include former deputy prime minister and commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and former acting PM Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan.
Meanwhile, former Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvigrom posted a message on his Facebook page yesterday, saying the disclosure by the Finance Ministry regarding the big loss incurred under the Yingluck administration when compared with previous administrations means she cannot refuse to take responsibility.
Warong claimed that the loss could be even higher, as the ministry had ended its calculation on May 22 while some rice stored under the scheme had continued to rot afterwards.
Warong also questioned whether the suicides by 16 farmers and the debt incurred by farmers were being calculated in the loss.
From the opposite camp, former Pheu Thai deputy prime minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul accused the NACC of unfair treatment, saying the anti-graft body had done little to take up the case of alleged irregularities under the Abhisit Vejjajiva and Chuan Leekpai administrations with regard to the scheme to reform financial institutions.
Surapong said more losses were incurred by that scheme and asked why those two were not being impeached.
Kittiratt Na-Ranong, who had been finance minister in the Yingluck government, yesterday rejected on his Facebook page the Finance Ministry’s estimate of losses as inaccurate and said the massive loss figure was contrived to discredit Yingluck.
He said the actual loss caused by the Yingluck government should be lower than the figure stated by the ministry. He claimed there was an attempt to include the losses of the governments that preceded the Yingluck administration.
Yingluck’s lawyer Pichit Chuenban yesterday said the ministry’s calculation also took into account depreciation, which he said should not be used for calculating the value of farm produce.
He said the value of farm produce would be known when it was sold, and that it was unfair to estimate its depreciation in the same way as other goods.
