PM demands more documents and 10 witnesses to be questioned

[Yasojack]

PM demands more documents and 10 witnesses to be questioned | Thai PBS English News


PM demands more documents and 10 witnesses to be questioned
in Politics | March 31, 2014

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission to question an addition of ten witnesses and to supply her lawyers with more documents relevant with the rice pledging scheme probe.
In a surprise move, the prime minister personally showed up at the NAAC office to present her defence in writing as required by the commission after she was given two extensions for a period of 32 days.

Mr Prasart Pongsivapai, one of the commissioners, said that the prime minister also gave a brief clarification to the NACC on top of the written clarification in defence of the accusation of negligence of duty in connection with the rice pledging scheme.

He hailed the prime minister’s showup to defend herself against the accusation against her as a good sign that Ms Yingluck has accepted the examination process.

The NACC, said Mr Prasart, will meet on Tuesday to consider the prime minister’s two requests for the commission to question ten additional witnesses and to supply her with additional documents.

The commission, he explained, will consider whether the witnesses the prime minister had wanted to be interrogated and the documents demanded were relevant with the rice pledging scheme or not or were related with the case under probe.

If the witnesses were not related with the rice pledging scheme, Mr Prasart said there was no need for the commission to interrogate them.

[flyfisher davis]

How cool is that...Just walk into a court room and make demands...

[Yasojack]

Does she not have the right to all the documents and time to study them and bring her own witnesses.

or should she just put her hands up and say impeach me.

[Mr Lick]

Toast is a word that springs to mind.



TDRI says corruption in rice scheme exceeds 450 billion baht

in Business | April 1, 2014 (460 views)

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Corruption plagues the government’s rice pledging scheme in almost every step with damages during the past two years since the implementation of the scheme now exceeds over 450 billion baht.

The huge corruption figure was exposed by an academic of Thailand Development Research Institute at a seminar to reform the country’s prevention and suppression of corruption for sustainable success.

The TDRI academic Mr Niphon Puapongsakorn said the rice pledging scheme engaged corruption in every step of the scheme. It brought about damage which no one would lodge complaint because it engaged conflict of interest.

Throughout the past two years when the scheme was implemented, he said it inflicted damages of over 380 billion baht, excluding 45-75 billion baht damage

from the rice sale, adding total damage from corruption amounted to over 450 billion baht, or equivalent to 60% of total sum used for the rice-pledging scheme.

He said corruption still prevails through clandestine rice sale although the National Anti-Corruption Committee is undertaking investigation of several corruption cases involving the rice scheme



TDRI says corruption in rice scheme exceeds 450 billion baht | Thai PBS English News