Court procedure an option if Yingluck refuses to pay compensation: Wissanu
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If former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra refuses to pay compensation for the damage caused by her administration's rice-pledging scheme, the government can resort to court action to enforce the PM's administrative order, Deputy Prime Minister Wissan
The government is in the process of issuing the PM’s administrative order to make Yingluck pay compensation for losses from her government’s rice subsidy programme. The amount will be decided by the committee on civil liability led by the head of the Comptroller-General’s Department.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha had said he would not exercise his special power under Article 44 to seize assets related the controversial rice subsidy programme but he would let the courts decide the matter instead.
Wissanu said if Yingluck refused to pay compensation as ordered by the PM and did not take the matter to the Administrative Court to revoke the administrative order, the government could take the legal option to make her pay the compensation.
“We can enforce the order through court procedures. The PM’s administrative order has the same status as a court ruling. The order can be enforced after a grace period before asset confiscation can be carried out,’’ he said.
Wissanu said issuing an administrative order in a civil case against Yingluck was not unprecedented, as more than 300 administrative orders had already been issued.
When asked why the government wanted to make the Yingluck administration pay compensation for losses from her government project and not other governments, Wissanu said because the National Anti-Corruption Commission had ruled that law offenders (in the rice-pledging scheme) must be impeached and criminal and civil action taken.
