Jaruwan, audit official get 2-year jail terms

Public prosecutors in October 2014 accused Jaruwan, 69, and Kampee Somjai, 69, former director of the Office of the Auditor General’s Office of Management and Human Resource Development, of violating Articles 157 and 83 of the constitution.

Jaruwan said she would appeal the ruling, adding that she was being sued because some people are being investigated by the Office of the Auditor General. 

“I helped the country gain hundreds of billions of baht. Think, if I would cheat the country of Bt200,000 or not,’’ she said.

Jaruwan had been a member of the Assets Examination Committee, which had been tasked with investigating corruption allegations involving projects approved by the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.

The lawsuit claims that from August 1 until October 31, both defendants conspired to commit malfeasance and corruption. The office appointed Kampee as deputy chairman of a committee charged with organising royal kathin ceremonies in August 2003. Kampee sought approval from Jaruwan to organise a seminar titled “Office of the Auditor General in the Opinion of Senators” on October 31, 2003, at City Park Hotel in Nan’s Muang district.

Both defendants knew that the royal kathin ceremonies would be carried out at Wat Payapoo and Wat Phrathat Chang Worawiharn on the same day, the suit claimed. 

Jaruwan and Kampee ensured that the same group of OAG officials who participated in the royal kathin ceremony were on the list of officials who would attend the seminar so that the officials would not have to pay their own travelling and accommodation expenses. The state cannot reimburse expenses for royal kathin ceremonies, but it can do so in the case of seminars.

The suit claims the seminar was not actually organised as intended. The court was told that what was supposed to be a seminar ended up just being a speech from a senator and no brainstorming session or exchanges of views. The suit further claimed that Jaruwan and Kampee used Bt294,440 that had been reimbursed for organising the seminar for their own benefit and the benefit of others, causing damage to the state.

Peerasawai Rattanaekwapee, the Nan deputy governor at the time, filed a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Commission accusing both Jaruwan and Kampee of corruption, which they denied.

The court cited the testimony of the deputy director-general of the Comptroller General’s Department, who said three components were essential when holding seminar: time, place and people. 

OAG officials who attended the event testified that no seminar topics had been discussed on a seminar stage. A Nan senator gave a speech at the event but no opinions had been exchanged among seminar attendants.

Three days before the seminar, staff at City Park Hotel said an OAG official called to cancel the event at the hotel. The event was conducted at an association in a housing estate, not at the hotel.

The court was told that the event was supposed to have been held from 8.30am to 4.30pm but it was postponed until 3.45pm and it lasted until 7pm.

Jaruwan and Kampee explained that they changed the seminar venue as the Nan senator had provided an alternative venue. They said the seminar was delayed because the senator, who joined the kathin ceremony, had to hand out scholarships.

The court said the defendants should have realised that both the seminar and the kathin ceremony should not have been held on the same day. Both defendants had intended for the OAG officials to go to Nan to join the kathin ceremony as those whose names were on the list of seminar guests also brought their dress whites to attend the religious ceremony.

The court temporarily released both of defendants after each posted Bt200,000 in bail.