Yingluck flight will not impede NACC probe

National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) president Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said that the agency’s investigators were still working on other cases in which Yingluck and her former Cabinet members have been accused.
“We are questioning witnesses and collecting facts to make our cases complete. All of these are still continuing normally. Yingluck’s escape in the rice-pledging case certainly will not affect our work in other cases,” Watcharapol said.
He added that there was no need to summon the fugitive ex-PM for questioning, as there were other people accused along with her.
The NACC chief said his agency would turn to interrogating those people and therefore its investigation would not have to be put on hold due to Yingluck’s disappearance.
Yingluck failed to show up for her verdict reading at the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders on August 25. Authorities have failed to locate her and police have been unable to say clearly whether she has left the country.
The former prime minister is accused of negligence in a case stemming from her government’s corruption-plagued rice-pledging scheme. The court issued a warrant for her arrest and rescheduled the verdict reading to September 27.
Her commerce minister, Boonsong Teriyapirom, and his former deputy, Poom Sarapol, were sentenced to 42 years and 36 years in jail, respectively, for malfeasance, in connection with fraudulent deals to sell rice from state stockpiles to a company posing as an arm of the Chinese government.
Meanwhile, most respondents to an opinion survey said Yingluck opted to flee because she was afraid of being sentenced to imprisonment, and they said the government should expedite its efforts to bring her back for prosecution.
Almost 85 per cent of those surveyed said they thought the former PM was afraid she could be given a jail term and would fail to get bail, according to results of the latest Suan Dusit Poll released yesterday. 
Some 76.6 per cent said it could be because she had no confidence in the justice system and was afraid that double standards could be applied.
When asked what the government should do regarding this matter, almost 83 per cent of the respondents said it should speed up the hunt to get Yingluck back for prosecution. And 70 per cent said there should be a fair judgement based on relevant facts and evidence. 
The survey, by Suan Dusit University, was conducted on 1,271 people in all regions of the country between August 26 and last Friday.
In a related development, Yingluck’s niece Paetongtan Shinawatra posted on Facebook and Instagram on Friday night, saying that the unfortunate events experienced by her family proved that they are loved and had not been forgotten by the Thai people.
Paetongtan is the youngest daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Yingluck’s big brother. Her posts came after her aunt Yingluck apparently fled the country.
“I would like to thank unfortunate events that let us know how lucky we are to have a family whose members love one another and to have friends who are ready to stand by us, as well as to have people who have never forgotten us,” Paetongtan posted. “And the people understand that my father and aunt love the people and the country more than anything else.”