NLA begins final impeachment hearing before voting January 23



BANGKOK: -- The National Legislative Assembly began the last day of its impeachment process today by allowing both the accuser and the accused to make final statements in words.

After the verbal statements of both sides, the NLA will have a vote whether to impeach the accused or not on January 23.

In the morning session of the last day of the hearing of the impeachment, the NLA allowed National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) director Vicha Mahakun to conclude all the accusations and reasons to impeach the accused, former Senate speaker Nikon Wairatpanich.

After his statement, the former Senate speaker was allowed to defend his innocence for the last time over accusation that he abused his power in chairing the Senate meeting to pass a bill that will change the composition of the Senate.

Earlier before the meeting began at 10.00 am, Mr Nikon asked for permission to distribute his written statement defending himself to NLA members as references, but thus was rejected by NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai.

The president that as this session was the last step of the impeachment process, no document was allowed to be produced.

He said the accused could only defend all charges by words.

Meanwhile former House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont has notified the NLA that he would not appear at the NLA today to defend all charges.

The NLA will begin the final impeachment process against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra tomorrow.

Ms Yingluck has said she will arrive tomorrow to defend her role in the rice-pledging scheme.

The final impeachment session will allow only the accuser and the accused to defend only verbally.

No questions are allowed to be asked by NLA members.

The NLA will meet January 24 to vote whether to impeach her.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nla-begins-final-impeachment-hearing-voting-january-23


-- Thai PBS 2015-01-21

"Earlier before the meeting began at 10.00 am, Mr Nikon asked for permission to distribute his written statement defending himself to NLA members as references, but thus was rejected by NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai."

If the speech he would read out was handed out, no one would listen to him as all would read the paper.

Anyway I assume the reading of the written statement will have been recorded.

This will mean that all the 'extra documents' that the lawyers said they gave to Yingluck will not be able to be tabled tomorrow.

She will have to read them out instead.

But of course the same goes for the NACC they will not be able to table any documents to disprove the answers given by the former cabinet ministers to the previous questions.

And no questions to be asked of any of them, although I would suspect the closing statements will raise questions in the minds of some NLA members.

I see that Somsak did not attend, busy packing his bags ?

I wonder what the poin of this is - the NLA members already confirmed that the closing arguments would not be taken into consideration and theri mind were made up.

This country is on the verge of ruin.

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I wonder what the poin of this is - the NLA members already confirmed that the closing arguments would not be taken into consideration and theri mind were made up.

This country is on the verge of ruin.

I wouldn't say ruin but the left hand hasn't a clue what the right hand is doing.

"..by allowing both the accuser and the accused to make final statements in words"

as opposed to them making final statements using the art of mime I suppose. I can see it now..

When I get this right, the Shins at least won that battle: avoiding Yingluck to have to answer any question in 'live' format, no text, no prompter, no earpiece. This way not only do they save themselves from the ridicule and the humiliation her total incapacity would have created, but they will use it as much as they can in their propaganda to oppose any negative decision for her and the two lackeys. These people are not working towards 'reconciliation', they prepare to go to battle, mark my words, I just hope the NLA members will be honest, responsible, and brave enough, not to bow for the, now unveiled and undenied, threats of violence and civil war, even more, that the ones who would habe been fooled by the PTP mermaid's chants will wake up in time, and not let the S.S. Thailand crash on the Shins' cliff!

(IMO: 'Fuera Shinawatra' 'Shinawatra: Basta')

I wonder what the poin of this is - the NLA members already confirmed that the closing arguments would not be taken into consideration and theri mind were made up.

This country is on the verge of ruin.

Maybe not, ...when the country has the power and the courage after the Shinawatra clan and consorts, also to get rid the whole bunch of parasites, red, and yellow and blue, and cuts the wings of old and new elites short. Will that happen, can it happen? The odds are ... But when nothing is done, even started, because the road ahead is hard and steep, then let the Thai populace remain the lemmings (polite form) they have been till now, and have the rulers they deserve, very bad ones.

I wonder what the poin of this is - the NLA members already confirmed that the closing arguments would not be taken into consideration and theri mind were made up.

This country is on the verge of ruin.

I think that it is fair to say that in relation to the rice pledging scheme it has been rescued from the brink of ruin.

Consider if the Feb election had gone ahead and PT had been given another 4 years of the scheme.

How big would the debt have been in that time ?

How much more of the rice would have deteriorated to dust ?

How many other warehouses would have had to have been built to store all the pledged rice ?

How big would the farmers debt been by that time ?

How much would have been syphoned off in corruption ?

All the heads of the checks and balances organisations would have been replaced with "Friends" so no corruption or fake deals would ever have been exposed or investigated.

The 2.2 trillion would have been borrowed out of budget with no accountability and some of it would have been used to pay off the debts of the scheme, leaving not enough for the infrastructure projects it was intended for.

So more out of budget borrowing, and that would have had to be at high interest rates for investors would have been getting leery by that time.

Yes rescued from the verge is a better term.