Ms Yingluck says she feels relieved after having clarified the NACC’s charges

[Lite Beer]

Ms Yingluck says she feels relieved after having clarified the NACC’s charges

BANGKOK: -- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said today that she felt relieved after having clarified to the National Legislative Assembly all the charges related to the rice pledging scheme lodged against her by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

She made the above remark to reporters at the parliament after she defended herself against the charges by the NACC which were presented to the NLA by Mr Vicha Mahakhun, a member of the NACC, as he opened the impeachment case against Ms Yingluck.

In presenting her defence, the ex-prime minister pleaded for justice from the NLA saying that she had already been stripped of all political posts and there was no point to impeach her.

She told the Press that she had clarified all the charges against her and hoped that the public had heard of what she had said to the NLA.

In presenting the NACC’s case, Mr Vicha told the NLA that the NLA had already warned the government of Ms Yingluck more than once about suspected corruption in the rice pledging scheme but they were all ignored.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/ms-yingluck-says-feels-relieved-clarified-naccs-charges

-- Thai PBS 2015-01-09

[waitforusalso]

Very polished & comprehensive. Over 1 hour.

Shame that the happy general's bosses have already made their minds up.

[Costas2008]

"In presenting her defence, the ex-prime minister pleaded for justice from the NLA saying that she had already been stripped of all political posts and there was no point to impeach her."

NO, you should be impeached for all the wrongdoings you have done when you were in charge.

Criminals do not get away so easy as you think you will be.

Not only for justice to be served but also for future politicians to learn that corruption and negligence do NOT go unpunished.

[ratcatcher]

Somebody please give this lady a big hug and tell her how brave she was to stand up to this relentless onslaught against her character.

That's the least she deserves.

[rametindallas]

If Ms Yingluck is satisfied she has demonstrated her innocence to the NACC, then I suppose that is good enough for me. And since they have already stripped her of all power they should just drop any further prosecutions of her.

This sounds like 'dog whistle' language to sway her 'low information' voters that any continued prosecution is really persecution caused by hate for her brother and not for any wrongdoing on her part. Well played, Yingluck, well played. You have excellent advisors. (can we blame all the losses on that mysterious 'Third Hand?)

side note: in the US, the term 'dog whistle' means to speak in a way that only certain groups will understand your real message; the same as only dogs can hear a dog whistle.

Edited January 9, 2015 by rametindallas

[waitforusalso]

"In presenting her defence, the ex-prime minister pleaded for justice from the NLA saying that she had already been stripped of all political posts and there was no point to impeach her."

NO, you should be impeached for all the wrongdoings you have done when you were in charge.

Criminals do not get away so easy as you think you will be.

Not only for justice to be served but also for future politicians to learn that corruption and negligence do NOT go unpunished.

Suthep & Chuan certainly got away with theirs

[JOC]

"In presenting her defence, the ex-prime minister pleaded for justice from the NLA saying that she had already been stripped of all political posts and there was no point to impeach her."

NO, you should be impeached for all the wrongdoings you have done when you were in charge.

Criminals do not get away so easy as you think you will be.

Not only for justice to be served but also for future politicians to learn that corruption and negligence do NOT go unpunished.

Selective memory again Costas??

How much money has the General handed out to the rubber- and rice farmers without getting anything in return?

This is not about justice, but the feudal masters and their mighty sponsors are again using the juridical system to get rid of an opponent, they can't beat at the ballot-box and who still is very popular with most Thais.

Note. Not defending the rice-scheme, which was a disaster, but stop using the "law" for political purposes.

[A1Str8]

I wouldn't feel relieved if i knew i was guilty.

[Robby nz]

"In presenting her defence, the ex-prime minister pleaded for justice from the NLA saying that she had already been stripped of all political posts and there was no point to impeach her."

NO, you should be impeached for all the wrongdoings you have done when you were in charge.

Criminals do not get away so easy as you think you will be.

Not only for justice to be served but also for future politicians to learn that corruption and negligence do NOT go unpunished.

Suthep & Chuan certainly got away with theirs

The pathetic but Suthep defense didnt take long to come out today.

Just read the report in the BKK post which gives a run down on what she did say, I really wonder if she believes it.

It reads as if it was written by Amsterdam and partners.

For instance she said " The program was well received by the people....... My party understands farmers........how they are plagued by debts, meager incomes and low rice prices. The rice pledging scheme would change all that. Well has it ? possibly good for some of the rich farmers but as it is said that only 5% of the pledging money paid to farmers went to the poor farmers and prices are now lower than ever. Well yes I suppose it has changed it but for most, not for the better.

Another quote : A Govt must take care of its low income people" Well they are now deeper in debt than ever before.

She said that the numbers of the lost grain in the subcommittee closing the schemes accounts were not correct....She had told them so but they wouldnt listen to her... Possibly if you had produced your own detailed audited accounting of the scheme then they may have listened to you. That is if such a thing exists.

She went on to blame everyone else, but you should really read it yourself.

[ballpoint]

If Ms Yingluck is satisfied she has demonstrated her innocence to the NACC, then I suppose that is good enough for me. And since they have already stripped her of all power they should just drop any further prosecutions of her.

This sounds like 'dog whistle' language to sway her 'low information' voters that any continued prosecution is really persecution caused by hate for her brother and not for any wrongdoing on her part. Well played, Yingluck, well played. You have excellent advisors. (can we blame all the losses on that mysterious 'Third Hand?)

side note: in the US, the term 'dog whistle' means to speak in a way that only certain groups will understand your real message; the same as only dogs can hear a dog whistle.

Yep. Rex and Fido have already come out with the old "but the cat did it too!" argument.

[rubl]

"she felt relieved after having clarified to the National Legislative Assembly all the charges"

Being a non-native English speaker it may be me, but somehow I didn't think Ms. Yingluck was asked to clarify the charges the NACC has against her. She's supposed to defend herself, cast doubts on the charges, ask the NACC to clarify and so

[oldsailor35]

So when are they going to impeach Suthep for his Palm Oil deals and for the government land which he gave to his "Hi-so" mates on Phuket and his enroachment on to government land on Koh Samui , just to make his family property bigger. Come on, this was blatent corruption, but they are trying to crucify Yingluck instead maybe for mistakes. And how about the murder of innocent protesters sheltering in a temple when the army opened fire against them with live ammunition, all under Sutheps orders, and the nurse who was killed by the army live fire, doing what she was trained to do, namely tender to the injured.

This is nothing but a Democrat witchhunt which will cause so much turmoil in Thailand as the people of the north will just not stand for it.

[Phatcharanan]

Somebody please give this lady a big hug and tell her how brave she was to stand up to this relentless onslaught against her character.

That's the least she deserves.

Some people bring these things on themselves though.

[binjalin]

Thailand's first female PM and what a showing!!! there is NO 'impeachment' as she is not in office, imagine 'impeaching' bush now he's out of office? it's ABSURD

as for the rice thing? it was a failure but to suggest she was responsible as a publicly elected officer? AMAZING THAILAND

I say STOP the bulling and vindictiveness and start being MORE Buddhist

She is an honest person methinks, not a great PM, but she has shown dignity under severe pressure that would have buckled most of us so please (fat chance) give her some CREDIT and stop the BULLYING and, by the way, most Thais I know admire and love her

[Satcommlee]

I'm new to this debate..

The UK which is comparable in population to Thailand spends 200 Billion GBP ($300 Billion) on welfare benefits..

Yingluck loses $15 billion helping her countries most poorest and this is an issue???

I know we are not comparing apples with apples here but there may be another way of looking at this.

Corruption has not been quantified yet.. so that argument must be put aside for the time being.

[djjamie]

22/04/14 - The day of the coup - PWO reaffirms there is no rice missing from public warehouses

On Twitter - Yingluck insists she performed to the best of her ability as Prime Minister and acted within the constitution, in her defence at impeachment

The lets have a look at history. Lets have a look at facts if you will….Not beliefs, but facts. Not "all the Thai people I know" facts, but actual facts.

To put it in context - An associate of Chalerm's son was appointed the director of the PWO in 2011. Sarawut Sakulmeerit, who was also a defendant in the case when Duang (Chalerm's son) was charged with murdering a detective at a nightclub in Bangkok. Sarawut was charged with obstruction of justice but was acquitted along with Chalerm's son.

So we had the PWO under the authority of the commerce ministry with the deputy commerce minister being an accused terrorist hell bent on ensuring the PTP clung onto power. Nattawutt, who met thaksin in Hong Kong in 2012 that said he was not going to talk about politics when they met. Nattawutt (and jatuporn) who were "sick" when it was going to be decided to revoke his bail, but miraculously recovered after the hearing decided not to revoke bail. Then as the director we have Sarawut that mislead the law to try to ensure Chalerm's son was not charged with murder.

What a thaksin dream team!

And they expected the voters to believe the PWO when they say their are no irregularities. None.. None what so ever. Absolutely no irregularities. WOW. ANd to think some still believe through the "All the people I know" defense" that yingluck is still popular!!!

May as well have thaksin himself inspecting the warehouses. They had the police inspect the warehouses. The police was run by Adul. A very close friend of thaksins that had his insignia pinned on by thaksin himself.

So what did the public expect next? thaksins son doing an inspection and parroting the same thing thaksins police and chalerms PWO said? They really did hold the voters in contempt. Ironically the poorest farmers were not even eligible for this scheme.

To top it off there were more fact finding missions appointed by……..Guess who? YEP! The accused terrorists department and Chalerm's sons mate.

Now the same supporters that believed this, that support this and that defend this blatant one sided "fact finding mission" without any evidence or facts presented to back up their case by denouncing the courts that make statements and decisions based on facts and evidence that were made public pre coup also say that the Junta is not allowing a transparent investigation on the rice scheme.

How ironic.

I hope she is is held accountable…Facts and accountability are the PTP's worst enemy.

Beliefs and "hear say" are there greatest friend.

Edited January 9, 2015 by djjamie

[Suriya4]

Somebody please give this lady a big hug and tell her how brave she was to stand up to this relentless onslaught against her character.

That's the least she deserves.

And don't forget to send her the bill for her populist campaign. Half a trillion I believe.

[philw]

So when are they going to impeach Suthep for his Palm Oil deals and for the government land which he gave to his "Hi-so" mates on Phuket and his enroachment on to government land on Koh Samui , just to make his family property bigger. Come on, this was blatent corruption, but they are trying to crucify Yingluck instead maybe for mistakes. And how about the murder of innocent protesters sheltering in a temple when the army opened fire against them with live ammunition, all under Sutheps orders, and the nurse who was killed by the army live fire, doing what she was trained to do, namely tender to the injured.

This is nothing but a Democrat witchhunt which will cause so much turmoil in Thailand as the people of the north will just not stand for it.

You are of course correct.

After 8 months of martial law, media self censorship and the further postponement of elections, I think it's quite likely that a significant proportion of the forcibly disenfranchised ( 30 or so million people ) are seething and , again, waiting for a flag to join.

If nothing else, the 14 million who voted for her and her party, will not rest easy if she is crucified by the Generals.

They must know this, so probably an accommodation has already been reached.

It may be that 2016 is the year we see real violence on the streets.

The complex and sad cycle of Thai politics continues.

The posters on here who state that the current lot ( or any one else ) are acting in the altruistic best interests of the people are delusional.

Give it a few more months and things will start happening again.

[philw]

Thailand's first female PM and what a showing!!! there is NO 'impeachment' as she is not in office, imagine 'impeaching' bush now he's out of office? it's ABSURD

as for the rice thing? it was a failure but to suggest she was responsible as a publicly elected officer? AMAZING THAILAND

I say STOP the bulling and vindictiveness and start being MORE Buddhist

She is an honest person methinks, not a great PM, but she has shown dignity under severe pressure that would have buckled most of us so please (fat chance) give her some CREDIT and stop the BULLYING and, by the way, most Thais I know admire and love her

yeah, true.

She showed a lot of style and substance when dealing with the Suthep crap.

The current mob have to tread increasingly carefully.

[djjamie]

I'm new to this debate..

The UK which is comparable in population to Thailand spends 200 Billion GBP ($300 Billion) on welfare benefits..

Yingluck loses $15 billion helping her countries most poorest and this is an issue???

I know we are not comparing apples with apples here but there may be another way of looking at this.

Corruption has not been quantified yet.. so that argument must be put aside for the time being.

I am tired, but I will let you know one thing.

The UK may have well helped the poor which is great. Good for them. Did they help the very poor or the middle class poor?

The PTP scheme didn't help the poorest farmers. It helped the middle class and above. It helped warehouse owners, millers and so forth. The poorest 2.59 million people it was supposed to hep were not even eligible for the scheme. This is not a belief, this is a fact.

My extended family live about 100km out of Khon Kaen They grow rice.

They still don't own a car. Rain still leaks in through the roof of their house. The husband has a 2nd job as a taxi driver in Khon Kaen. Rice turned brown and they feared they will loose the harvest. They did loose it.

I asked if they know about higher yields through improving water management, better seed selection, alternate pesticides, more efficient harvesting methods and soil analysis.

Their eyes glazed over while staring over the 18" black and white TV they saved up for.

The only thing sustainable about that scheme is the votes it generated.

If they used the money in R&D to help the farmers then it would have helped.

Look up Korn_Chatikavanij 's initiatives regarding rice farming. This guy puts the people first. Politics aside he wants to help the people. He passionately wants to help the farmers without any thanks or political gain. Look him up.

He was a democrat and shows true sincerity to the farmers cause. This is a fact… Not a belief.

You will find no PTP man following the plight of the poor man unless it involves political or personal gain. (like a lot of democrats too mind you)

​Look up yingluck….15 farmer suicides under her watch because she could not pay them (10 suicides where even before the PDRC even started protesting).

Hundreds of farmers protesting because they were not paid (before the PDRC even started protesting) yet they were intimidated by the very people they voted for.

So when you say your new to this debate, I respect that, but I hope you understand that this scheme did not help the poor. 2.59 million of the poorest to be exact.

Edited January 9, 2015 by djjamie

[candide]

​Look up yingluck….15 farmer suicides under her watch because she could not pay them (10 suicides where even before the PDRC even started protesting).

Hundreds of farmers protesting because they were not paid (before the PDRC even started protesting) yet they were intimidated by the very people they voted for.

I tried to find the 2013 figures of suicide and could not find them, any source?

Anyway, she got some very efficient help on this matter, i.e.

:

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban last night warned both commercial and state banks against any rice loans to the caretaker government with threat of facing shutdown by protesters.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pdrc-leader-warns-banks-rice-loans-government

Anti-government demonstrators Wednesday stalled the electronic rice auction by cutting power supply at the Commerce Ministry forcing the auction to be put off to March 26.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/protesters-stall-rice-auction

[halloween]

Its only natural that she feels relieved after dropping that load of (deleted).

[zaphod reborn]

In the end, Yingluck's best defense against the charges will be a big cry in front of the press.

[rametindallas]

I'm new to this debate..

The UK which is comparable in population to Thailand spends 200 Billion GBP ($300 Billion) on welfare benefits..

Yingluck loses $15 billion helping her countries most poorest and this is an issue???

I know we are not comparing apples with apples here but there may be another way of looking at this.

Corruption has not been quantified yet.. so that argument must be put aside for the time being.

I'm new to this debate..

No. You're not. You've been a member of this forum for three and a half years. Willful ignorance or are you trying to fool us?

If you really are new to the debate, why have you taken sides when, if you are new to the debate, you don't really have enough information to be posting anything without showing your ignorance on the matter?

[The stuttering parrot]

Once again she shown dignity and grace and she has really rattled you yellow junta dem supporters and mainly because not only because she a Shinawatra but a woman.

Really have a look at jamie he claimed she is a convicted criminal I have asked him time after time to list her convictions past and present yet he can't and yet now seeks the attention of the mods to try and get posts removed that he doesn't agree with.

Well the underlying truth is that the people elected the PTP and Yingluck and her party and no matter which way you slice they are the government elected by the people and people supporting this sham should be ashamed.

[GeckosDiving]

Once again she shown dignity and grace and she has really rattled you yellow junta dem supporters and mainly because not only because she a Shinawatra but a woman.

Really have a look at jamie he claimed she is a convicted criminal I have asked him time after time to list her convictions past and present yet he can't and yet now seeks the attention of the mods to try and get posts removed that he doesn't agree with.

Well the underlying truth is that the people elected the PTP and Yingluck and her party and no matter which way you slice they are the government elected by the people and people supporting this sham should be ashamed.

We have a winner for the Biggest Load Of Shit Post Award !! Your Crap will be sent in the mail, enjoy it. Lol

[MAJIC]

So when are they going to impeach Suthep for his Palm Oil deals and for the government land which he gave to his "Hi-so" mates on Phuket and his enroachment on to government land on Koh Samui , just to make his family property bigger. Come on, this was blatent corruption, but they are trying to crucify Yingluck instead maybe for mistakes. And how about the murder of innocent protesters sheltering in a temple when the army opened fire against them with live ammunition, all under Sutheps orders, and the nurse who was killed by the army live fire, doing what she was trained to do, namely tender to the injured.

This is nothing but a Democrat witchhunt which will cause so much turmoil in Thailand as the people of the north will just not stand for it.

Let's get one thing straight,if we are talking about who needs to face prosecution ?let's start an orderly que with Thaksin leading the way!

The people of the North will stand for anything,from him because he said" I will make all Thais rich in 6 months" they are still waiting and still believing anything!

Edited January 9, 2015 by MAJIC

[marinediscoking]

"she felt relieved after having clarified to the National Legislative Assembly all the charges"

Being a non-native English speaker it may be me, but somehow I didn't think Ms. Yingluck was asked to clarify the charges the NACC has against her. She's supposed to defend herself, cast doubts on the charges, ask the NACC to clarify and so

You are quite correct! Seems the Thai pbs is spinning this new release for the junta. I don't really understand why TV chose to use this as it seems to be so far from what she actually said? Other news releases quote her quite differently such as "Yingluck denies all charges" and "I have no position left to be impeached from".

She also stated: "I denied all charges by both the NACC and the Democrat party and I insist I ran the program correctly and transparently. "The program was well received by people. It's a social contract that my government was bound to implement. My party understands farmers...how they are perennially plagued with debts, meager incomes and low rice prices. The rice-pledging scheme would change that. It would allow farmers to stand on their feet. And pledging is the best way to do it, not the guarantee method of the TDRI [Thailand Development Research Institute]. "A government must take care of its low-income people. Besides, rice pledging is not new. It's been used for 33 years." Farmers never had real bargaining power. Guaranteeing the grain — the method championed by the TDRI and the opposition Democrat party — doesn't help and is more corruption-prone since rice was not accounted for. The quantities could easily be manipulated and market prices will not increase.

"Subsidizing farmers is nothing new. Every country helps its bread winner. It's a burden of a government. Japan's subsidies are $3.3 billion a year for its farmers, Thailand $2 billion. Every country helps its farmers. It's not the matter of running a balance sheet. "Figures of lost grain of the subcommittee closing the program's accounts are not correct. Both the Marketing Organization for Farmers and the Public Warehouse Organization insisted the grain was still there. There are discrepancies in inventory numbers. If they are reconciled the way I suggested, the losses could be 250 billion baht from 330 billion. I did tell them this but the NACC chose to listen to the subcommittee.

"Rice pledging creates the multiplier effect and therefore more production, investment and gross domestic product. The government can then collect more taxes. The program did not affect fiscal discipline either. The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperative borrowed at 20% of the expenditure budget, guaranteed by the Finance Ministry. The cabinet also resolved to manage the program's liquidity by gradually selling the stockpile so the program could finally run on its own. Selling 19 million tonnes of the stock is not necessary. There's no need to issue bonds. "Selling 70 billion baht worth of the stock... borrowing the balance from the contingency budget to get a total of 90 billion baht to repay farmers. Eventually, this government did what I had laid the groundwork for.

[Robby nz]

It would seem the "But Suthep" defense is all her supporters on here have.

You should get the message to her and she can use it herself when question time comes.

[brucec64]

I dont blame your extended family. My eyes usually glaze over when having to listen to you.