NACC, OAG disagree on former PM's indictment

[webfact]

NACC, OAG disagree on former PM's indictment
By Digital Content



BANGKOK, Nov 7 -- Thailand's Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) remain in disagreement over the indictment of former premier Yingluck Shinawatra in a case related to her role in the now-defunct rice-pledging programme.

OAG Deputy Chief Vudhibhongse Vibulyawongse told journalists after a meeting of the OAG working committee and NACC representatives, the third of its kind, that no conclusion was reached made because both sides “disagreed on certain issues.”

The Attorney-General's staff believed that additional witnesses should be questioned in order to gain solid evidence in the case, said Mr Vodhibhongse without elaborating.

He said NACC promised that it may question more than 10 witnesses.

Ms Yingluck is accused by the NACC of dereliction of duty for failing to terminate the rice-pledging scheme despite allegedly massive corruption and losses to the government.

Mr Vodhibhongse said the NACC would focus on Ms Yinluck's alleged dereliction of duty rather than corruption and although the two agencies held different views, it is unnecessary for the NACC to file charges with the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders as it should wait for the OAG’s response.

“The OAG isn’t buying time, but it must perform its duty prudently for the sake of justice (for Ms Yingluck),” said Mr. Vodhibhongse .

NACC Secretary-General Sansern Poljiak said the agencies must hold a fresh round of discussion.

He said the joint working committee would have to inform the outcome of Friday’s meeting to committee members of each side first.

Mr Sansern said his agency stood firm on its stance as adhered to the law and that was why both the OAG and the NACC were unable to hold similar views. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2014-11-07

[Robby nz]

“The OAG isn’t buying time, but it must perform its duty prudently for the sake of justice (for Ms Yingluck),” said Mr. Vodhibhongse .

I would suggest that they also preform their duty for the sake of justice for the country and the people who will be saddled with the debt from the scheme.

Edited November 7, 2014 by Robby nz

[ChrisY1]

The Shinawatra clan are making noises.........and not to be underestimated by anyone!

[Snig27]

And here we have more evidence that the NACC is probably the institution most in need of urgent reform in Thailand. Until these deeply politicised bodies are able to work for the greater benefit of Thailand, not just their self-anointed elitist masters, they are incapable of performing their task.

The NACC is about where Indonesia's equivalent KPK was a decade ago as that country came out of the Suharto era. We have a long way to go.

[slapout]

I can believe the OAG is not/would not buy time, but they might be seen as obstructing the procedure to carry out justice for the largest misuse of funds in Thailands modern history. If that is the case, then who is buying what/who might be asked by those who are concered with justice.

[Tatsujin]

... both sides “disagreed on certain issues.” ...

Translation = we don't want to indict her just in case it's us up there next ... same old bullshit ...

[Robby nz]

Considering that she refused to answer the OAG's requests then demands that she explain he brothers illegal issued passport I wouldn't have thought they would have had much patience with her.

[Rumble]

The truth is so well protected and will never come out no matter how many interviews are made, this scenario will go on for years and millions will be spent yet the truth will never be known .

Just clear the slate, ban them all from any kind of politics for life, and get on with getting the country out of the mess and gain world recognition.

[Robby nz]

And here we have more evidence that the NACC is probably the institution most in need of urgent reform in Thailand. Until these deeply politicised bodies are able to work for the greater benefit of Thailand, not just their self-anointed elitist masters, they are incapable of performing their task.

The NACC is about where Indonesia's equivalent KPK was a decade ago as that country came out of the Suharto era. We have a long way to go.

You are right its a travesty of justice that the Yingluck Govt wasn't able to put their own people into the top jobs of the NACC, if they had then there would have been no problems for the NACC would then have been entirely controlled by the rich elite great thinker.

Fortunately they were able to stay independent of that control, however in their efforts to end corruption the Yingluck Govt did cut the budget of the NACC, reported to be a cut of around 60%.

Even with the intimidation, grenades and threats by the red shirt faction of PTP and the burning of coffins outside their office the NACC have have stuck to their job and not been cowed.

The present administration has now increased the budget again but still not up to the pre Yingluck level but enough for them to be able to preform their function of identifying and going after corruption.

After around 2 years of investigating the rice pledging scheme they must have a huge file which will undoubted reveal massive corruption some of which will be well covered by a crooked and devious PT administration but rest assured the truth will come out over time.

[Robespiere]

Propaganda colliding with reality.

The peanuts have awoken to how ridiculous the allegations are and don't want their names in the history books written about this farce.

[55Jay]

When the NAAC says they are going to focus on Yingluck's alleged dereliction of duty "rather than corruption", what does that really mean?

[cocopops]

The truth is so well protected and will never come out no matter how many interviews are made, this scenario will go on for years and millions will be spent yet the truth will never be known .

Just clear the slate, ban them all from any kind of politics for life, and get on with getting the country out of the mess and gain world recognition.

Oh come now. Occam's razor says:

• The PTP created a policy to overpay farmers for their rice. When the policy was formulated they were in election mode, so nobody really cared to look at the details too much.
• The rice price moved further against them after the election. Meanwhile, the idea of controlling supply the world market in order to raise the price turned out to be little more than a daydream.
• Stocks were allowed to accumulate while they were waiting for the price to rise - see the aforementioned daydream. Farmers were waiting for their payments.
• Suthep struck, crippling the government. This hampered the PTP's ability to move the rice at any price - buyers were scared of being caught up in Thai politics - and prevented them from paying the farmers. At this point, the rice scheme became the "rice scam" in popular vernacular.
• 1 year later, when the warehouses were inspected following the coup, we find that huge amounts of rice has rotted. As a result the value of the stock is even further downgraded.
• And so, we're now at a massive loss.

All told, it was a monumental farkup. Pure and simple. However, in defense of the PTP (this should be popular):

• There is no "big black hole" into which the money disappeared. There are so far no reports of large-scale corruption - just a few isolated incidents.
• The rice that has been genetically tested does appear to be of Thai origin. There was no large-scale importing of foreign rice to sell to the Thai government.

The OAG's office is stalling because they don't know if they want to be a part of this prosecution or not. Going through with it means a whole lot of documents will be produced. Documents that might be interpreted later on, by journalists, historians or others, to mean that the prosecution was motivated by some factor other than the stamping out of corruption.

[rickirs]

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“The OAG isn’t buying time, but it must perform its duty prudently for the sake of justice (for Ms Yingluck),” said Mr. Vodhibhongse .

I would suggest that they also preform their duty for the sake of justice for the country and the people who will be saddled with the debt from the scheme.

It would seem that the AGO is performing its duty by continuing to deny prosecution for what seems to be lack of evidence. But that doesn't seem to you to be justice. Ordinarily, a well-functioning judicial system does not work for the sake of the country but for the sake of the rule of law. And though justice is tilted in Thailand right now more towards prosecutions because of the Interim Constitution issued by the Junta that serves as the currrent rule of law, the AGO seems to be putting professionalism and ethics ahead of a rushed and seemingly bias persuit of indictment. For the sector of the population that wants revenge against the PTP, such behavior is truly distrubing. Your anxiety is understandable.

[oneday]

Ms Yingluck is accused by the NACC of dereliction of duty for failing to terminate the rice-pledging scheme despite allegedly massive corruption and losses to the government.

I have always somewhat defended Yingluck purely because I felt she has been a naive puppet for her brother and never did anything out of malicious or felonious intent. However, I wholly agree with the statement above. If the aim of "impeachment" is to prevent her from going into politics again for 5 years then just do it and get it over with so the "yellows" can feel they have achieved a victory and the whole country can just move on.

She doesn't belong in politics and I doubt she would ever want to get back into politics anyway.

[rickirs]

"The Attorney-General's staff believed that additional witnesses should be questioned in order to gain solid evidence in the case, said Mr Vodhibhongse without elaborating. ... He said NACC promised that it may question more than 10 witnesses."

I don't think anyone caught the irony here. NACC needs to bring in more witnesses to prove its case before the OAG. No problem. Yingluck needed to bring in more witnesses to prove her case before the NACC. Problem. Fortunately up to this point the OAG has shown itself to be professionally and ethically responsible in its pursuit of justice. Little can be said of the NACC.

[smutcakes]

Considering that she refused to answer the OAG's requests then demands that she explain he brothers illegal issued passport I wouldn't have thought they would have had much patience with her.

Unlike you, maybe the OAG have the ability to look at facts objectively to this case rather than emotionally on previous issues. (which incidentally you or I have no idea what/if anything happened between anybodies regarding a passport)

[moe666]

The truth is so well protected and will never come out no matter how many interviews are made, this scenario will go on for years and millions will be spent yet the truth will never be known .

Just clear the slate, ban them all from any kind of politics for life, and get on with getting the country out of the mess and gain world recognition.

Oh come now. Occam's razor says:

• The PTP created a policy to overpay farmers for their rice. When the policy was formulated they were in election mode, so nobody really cared to look at the details too much.
• The rice price moved further against them after the election. Meanwhile, the idea of controlling supply the world market in order to raise the price turned out to be little more than a daydream.
• Stocks were allowed to accumulate while they were waiting for the price to rise - see the aforementioned daydream. Farmers were waiting for their payments.
• Suthep struck, crippling the government. This hampered the PTP's ability to move the rice at any price - buyers were scared of being caught up in Thai politics - and prevented them from paying the farmers. At this point, the rice scheme became the "rice scam" in popular vernacular.
• 1 year later, when the warehouses were inspected following the coup, we find that huge amounts of rice has rotted. As a result the value of the stock is even further downgraded.
• And so, we're now at a massive loss.

All told, it was a monumental farkup. Pure and simple. However, in defense of the PTP (this should be popular):

• There is no "big black hole" into which the money disappeared. There are so far no reports of large-scale corruption - just a few isolated incidents.
• The rice that has been genetically tested does appear to be of Thai origin. There was no large-scale importing of foreign rice to sell to the Thai government.

The OAG's office is stalling because they don't know if they want to be a part of this prosecution or not. Going through with it means a whole lot of documents will be produced. Documents that might be interpreted later on, by journalists, historians or others, to mean that the prosecution was motivated by some factor other than the stamping out of corruption.

You left out several important facts one being she was warned several times to stop the program because of corruption and cost to the government and this was at least a year before being kicked out of office.

[Dogmatix]

The truth is so well protected and will never come out no matter how many interviews are made, this scenario will go on for years and millions will be spent yet the truth will never be known .

Just clear the slate, ban them all from any kind of politics for life, and get on with getting the country out of the mess and gain world recognition.

Oh come now. Occam's razor says:

• The PTP created a policy to overpay farmers for their rice. When the policy was formulated they were in election mode, so nobody really cared to look at the details too much.
• The rice price moved further against them after the election. Meanwhile, the idea of controlling supply the world market in order to raise the price turned out to be little more than a daydream.
• Stocks were allowed to accumulate while they were waiting for the price to rise - see the aforementioned daydream. Farmers were waiting for their payments.
• Suthep struck, crippling the government. This hampered the PTP's ability to move the rice at any price - buyers were scared of being caught up in Thai politics - and prevented them from paying the farmers. At this point, the rice scheme became the "rice scam" in popular vernacular.
• 1 year later, when the warehouses were inspected following the coup, we find that huge amounts of rice has rotted. As a result the value of the stock is even further downgraded.
• And so, we're now at a massive loss.

All told, it was a monumental farkup. Pure and simple. However, in defense of the PTP (this should be popular):

• There is no "big black hole" into which the money disappeared. There are so far no reports of large-scale corruption - just a few isolated incidents.
• The rice that has been genetically tested does appear to be of Thai origin. There was no large-scale importing of foreign rice to sell to the Thai government.

The OAG's office is stalling because they don't know if they want to be a part of this prosecution or not. Going through with it means a whole lot of documents will be produced. Documents that might be interpreted later on, by journalists, historians or others, to mean that the prosecution was motivated by some factor other than the stamping out of corruption.

Historically the office of the A-G's reputation for wanting to stamp out corruption has ranked a close second to the RTP's. There is a huge amount of money at stake here, not just the billion baht of taxpayers' money that has disappeared.

Also military NLA members seem to have the green light to soft pedal on PT impeachments, following the discovery that the power to impeach was mysteriously omitted from the interim constitution, as was the power to prosecute for violations against the constitution that was in force at the time the offences took place.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Dogmatix

[Eric Loh]

The truth is so well protected and will never come out no matter how many interviews are made, this scenario will go on for years and millions will be spent yet the truth will never be known .

Just clear the slate, ban them all from any kind of politics for life, and get on with getting the country out of the mess and gain world recognition.

Oh come now. Occam's razor says:

• The PTP created a policy to overpay farmers for their rice. When the policy was formulated they were in election mode, so nobody really cared to look at the details too much.
• The rice price moved further against them after the election. Meanwhile, the idea of controlling supply the world market in order to raise the price turned out to be little more than a daydream.
• Stocks were allowed to accumulate while they were waiting for the price to rise - see the aforementioned daydream. Farmers were waiting for their payments.
• Suthep struck, crippling the government. This hampered the PTP's ability to move the rice at any price - buyers were scared of being caught up in Thai politics - and prevented them from paying the farmers. At this point, the rice scheme became the "rice scam" in popular vernacular.
• 1 year later, when the warehouses were inspected following the coup, we find that huge amounts of rice has rotted. As a result the value of the stock is even further downgraded.
• And so, we're now at a massive loss.

All told, it was a monumental farkup. Pure and simple. However, in defense of the PTP (this should be popular):

• There is no "big black hole" into which the money disappeared. There are so far no reports of large-scale corruption - just a few isolated incidents.
• The rice that has been genetically tested does appear to be of Thai origin. There was no large-scale importing of foreign rice to sell to the Thai government.

The OAG's office is stalling because they don't know if they want to be a part of this prosecution or not. Going through with it means a whole lot of documents will be produced. Documents that might be interpreted later on, by journalists, historians or others, to mean that the prosecution was motivated by some factor other than the stamping out of corruption.

Historically the office of the A-G's reputation for wanting to stamp out corruption has ranked a close second to the RTP's. There is a huge amount of money at stake here, not just the billion baht of taxpayers' money that has disappeared.

Also military NLA members seem to have the green light to soft pedal on PT impeachments, following the discovery that the power to impeach was mysteriously omitted from the interim constitution, as was the power to prosecute for violations against the constitution that was in force at the time the offences took place.

Is this ranking only privy to you? Kindly share. Would like to know why the RTA, NACC and the EC stand in the ranking.

[Baerboxer]

“The OAG isn’t buying time, but it must perform its duty prudently for the sake of justice (for Ms Yingluck),” said Mr. Vodhibhongse .

I would suggest that they also preform their duty for the sake of justice for the country and the people who will be saddled with the debt from the scheme.

If only.

[Baerboxer]

Considering that she refused to answer the OAG's requests then demands that she explain he brothers illegal issued passport I wouldn't have thought they would have had much patience with her.

Unlike you, maybe the OAG have the ability to look at facts objectively to this case rather than emotionally on previous issues. (which incidentally you or I have no idea what/if anything happened between anybodies regarding a passport)

It was the Ombudsman that kept asking about the passport. Yingluck, true to form, asked for time to reply, made promises to reply in 20 days, asked for another 3 months and so on. She managed never to answer. I believe that particular Ombudsman since retired and the subject seems to have been allowed to simply fade away as Yingluck wanted.

Look a the behavior of the OAG, Thai prosecutors, and DSI under Director Tarit over the past 3 years. On all cases, criminal as well as those with a political flavor. It seems the Justice department is more concerned with the facts to do with wealth, family name, connections, influence and which faction are in power at the time than actually looking at the facts of the case objectively in the pursuit of justice.

But course, when any legal body supports the Shins in anyway they are objective and balanced. When they don't support the Shins they are biased and poltically motivated and the Shins are right to ignore their rulings at will. Well, according to Smutty and his Shin apologist pals.