Yingluck Shinawatra and jail time

[S Landreth]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/poli...e-case-holiday

[S Landreth]

Related story/poll

Nida Poll shows most people want corrupt politicians be banished for politics for life

Almost 70 percent of over 1,200 respondents agree with the proposed amendment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission that corrupt politicians should be banished from politics for life, according to Nida Poll of the National Institute Development Administration.

The opinion poll was conducted during November 26-27. Altogether 1,250 individuals were polled regarding the legal amendments proposed by the NACC.

69.28 percent of the respondents agreed that corrupt politicians should not be allowed to return to politics ever again so that they will not have a chance to repeat the offences again. 26.08 percent however think otherwise saying that the corrupt politicians should be given another chance to turn a new leaf otherwise it will be unfair for them.

Regarding the proposed amendment requiring local administrators and executives of local administration bodies to declare their assets, the poll shows 90.40 percent of the respondents agree with the proposed amendment against 8.32 percent who disagree.

58.64 percent also agree that the NACC should be empowered to arrest and detain those who fail to report to the NACC as required.

A 5 year holiday: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nid...-politics-life

[Mid]

^

http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ts-so-positive

[S Landreth]

A Shinawatra-led or aligned government has been brought to power in every poll since 2001.

and will continue to do so,....

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/tha...index-recovers

[Mid]

Some of us would hope for better because if they do continue to vote Shinawatra I believe the corruption perception index will continue to stay near the bottom.

google ' Akharapongpreecha ' news .

[S Landreth]

NACC expects assets probe result against Ms Yingluck and 4 ex-ministers middle next year

The National Anti-Corruption Commission is expected to conclude its findings on the rice pledging scheme against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her four ministers early or middle of next year.

Mr Narong Ratah-amarit, a member of the NACC, said Thursday that the commission was yet to summon the five former cabinet ministers to give their statements. However, they were already notified to clarify in writing to the commissioin regarding their assets.

In his capacity as chairman of the assets examination panel, Mr Narong said that the panel had doubt about some items of assets acquired by the ministers while they were put in charge of the rice pledging scheme.

Apart from Ms Yingluck, the other ex-ministers under investigation are former deputy prime minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan, former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyaphirom, former deputy commerce minister Yanyong Puangrach and former deputy commerce minister Poom Saraphol.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nac...ddle-next-year

google ' Akharapongpreecha ' news .

[S Landreth]

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/oag...g-g-rice-deals

[S Landreth]

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/gra...cting-yingluck

[S Landreth]

NACC not hopeful of resolution with prosecutors in Yingluck case

Sansern rules out conducting more probe in rice-pledging case against ex-PM

National Anti-Corruption Commission secretary-general Sansern Poljieak has said the Office of the Attorney-General and the anti-graft agency are unlikely to jointly resolve the case involving the rice-pledging scheme against ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Sansern yesterday insisted the NACC would not investigate more people in the case after he said the Office asked it to spend more time probing the alleged government-to-government rice sales.

He was responding to a reaction from the Office's litigation department director-general Surasak Trirattrakul, calling on the NACC to plug the holes in the case by interviewing more witnesses.

Surasak said the Office wanted to see more evidence because the NACC report showed discrepancies in witness testimonies, which made it unclear as to whether the government-to-government rice sales took place.

Sansern said that would not happen because that investigation element was not related to the charge the NACC had filed against Yingluck.

He said the NACC report did not include this issue in the Yingluck case but included it in another graft case, against former Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and former Deputy Commerce Minister Poom Sarapol over the scrapped rice-pledging scheme.

He said the NACC had accused Yingluck of dereliction of duty for failing to stop corruption and massive losses in the scheme.

In October, the Finance Ministry reported that the estimated losses in the scheme were between Bt600-700 billion.

Sansern said the NACC would meet tomorrow to decide its next move.

He said it was not clear if the Office would indict Yingluck as recommended by the NACC but there was a high probability that both agencies would be unable to resolve the case together.

Whether she would be indicted or not would be announced when the agencies hold their last joint meeting, which was yet to be scheduled.

The state prosecution agency said it would not be able to complete the investigation this year.

According to due process, if both agencies disagree with the indictment decision in any case, they have to make that known officially.

If that happens in this case, the NACC would be able to directly file the case in the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders Court. It had previously stated it was prepared to do so.

The anti-graft agency and the public prosecutors failed for a third time in November to reach an agreement on whether a criminal case should be filed against Yingluck. That prompted speculation that the NACC might take the case to court on its own.

An NACC source said that if the Office continued to refuse to file a criminal case against Yingluck, it was likely the anti-graft agency would go down that route.

It has previously taken criminal cases against political-office holders to court without the state prosecutor's consent, including the one against Yingluck's older brother, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

A little more than what Thai PBS reported yesterday and it doesn't look like there's any probelm with the case proceeding : http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30249785.html

[Mid]

Yingluck still more popular than Abhisit: survey
December 14, 2014

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is still more popular than Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, Bangkok University pollster found in its latest opinion survey.

The university found that 26.6 per cent of 1,206 respondents preferred Yingluck as the next prime minister while 25.1 per cent named Abhisit. The remaining 48.3 per cent were undecided.

The survey was carried out on the occasion of six months after the National Council for Peace and Order seized power.

nationmultimedia.com

[S Landreth]

The university found that 26.6 per cent of 1,206 respondents preferred Yingluck as the next prime minister while 25.1 per cent named Abhisit. The remaining 48.3 per cent were undecided.

Bangkok University pollster found in its latest opinion survey.

Mid, I am sure you are well aware there is a margin of error in these polls which is usually about 3%. The difference between the two is at 1.5%. Not that I give a sh-it about either candidate but the race would be too close to call at this point.

[S Landreth]

NACC urges prosecutors to protect witnesses in rice case

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) Tuesday asked the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) to help protect witnesses involved in the probe into former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra's role in the rice-pledging scheme.

NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljiak made the demand at a joint meeting between the NACC and the OAG Tuesday.

The committee, set up on Sept 4, was intended to work on the case amid uncertainty about whether to indict Ms Yingluck for her alleged failure to stop losses under the scheme. The attorney-general says work by the NACC on the case is not strong enough to support indictments.

Mr Sansern called on Attorney-General Trakul Winitnaiyapak, who led OAG representatives at the meeting, to defend plaintiffs, including the anti-graft commission itself, from counterclaims.

He said witnesses, including officials involved in the investigation, need to be protected because they often face parallel lawsuits filed by the defendant. Such lawsuits are aimed at deterring witnesses from testifying.

Mr Sansern said the NACC also wanted the attorney-general to help set the direction of investigation. He suggests the office help with probes rather than wait for NACC reports to be complete. That should help reduce the problem of incomplete reports or gaps in procedure, he said.

The NACC was ready to address the opening of Ms Yingluck's case before the National Legislative Assembly on Jan 9, he said.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gene...s-in-rice-case

[Mid]

The attorney-general says work by the NACC on the case is not strong enough to support indictments.

but wasn't it watertight ?

[Panama Hat]

but wasn't it watertight ?

Semantics . . . watertight is not he same as strong nor airtight nor plausible nor . . .

[sabang]

The NACC needs to state it's Case, the AG is clearly right under current circumstances- unless I am only reading misleading fragments in English language media. Thus far, their public staements seem to suggest that they want to charge Yingluck for a policy they didn't agree with (fair enuff), and that she failed to stop when they lobbied her government to do so. That is not a crime. They need to establish corruption, that can be tied to the Cabinet, before they have a case at Law. Who on earth are these NACC- I used to have a fair amount of dealings with the ICAC in HK. These people resemble them not the least.