New indictments for rice-pledging convict
THE NATIONAL Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) yesterday forwarded a case to the Attorney-General regarding former Commerce Ministery secretary Weerawut Wajanaphukka for new indictments and a trial after it decided earlier this month that he should be charged for having accumulated “unusual wealth”.
Acting NACC secretary-general Worawit Sookboon said the NACC suspected that the former government official was unusually rich after charging him and former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom with malfeasance of duty over government-to-government deals under the Yingluck Shinawatra government’s rice distribution scheme.
A sub-panel created by the NACC to investigate Weerawut’s wealth found that he could not clarify the origin of more than Bt896 million in assets.
Acting on the sub-panel’s report, the NACC decided earlier this month to charge him with having unusual wealth. Worawit said the NACC had also been investigating the wealth of five more politicians as well as three senior officials involved in the rice-pledging scheme and would reveal its findings to the public.
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders on August 25 sentenced Boonsong and 19 others to jail terms of 24 to 48 years for their roles in executing fake government-to-government rice deals during the previous Yingluck government’s tenure, causing Bt16.9-billion in financial damage to the state. Weerawut, the third former official convicted, fled the country before the court ruling.