People close to TRT figures paid bribes
A witness told the Constitution Tribunal yesterday that people close to some Thai Rak Thai leaders paid him cash to field candidates in the April 2 poll.
The Thai Rak Thai Party faces allegations it hired the Pattana Chart Thai and Thai Ground parties to contest the election in some constituencies, where only TRT candidates ran, to circumvent the rule which requires an unopposed candidate to win 20 per cent of total ballots cast in the constituency. Testifying in the electoral fraud case, Suksan Chaithet, the Pattana Chart Thai director, told the Tribunal he was contacted by the leader of Prachathippatai Party on the night of March 7, 2006 to meet a group of people at a hotel in Bangkok. He found out that they were representatives of General Trairong Intaratat, a senior military officer close to some TRT leaders, he said. At the hotel, leaders of the small parties were paid some cash in advance to field candidates in some constituencies, where only TRT candidates ran for the House seats, Suksan said. Two Thai Rak Thai lawyers, however, tried to discredit his evidence, saying Suksan had been hired by the Democrats to accuse TRT. A Thai Rak Thai lawyer said Suksan had held membership of the Democrat Party twice before resigning at the end of February and being appointed Pattana Chart Thai director in early March. Contrary to the volatile opening to the case last week, yesterday's session did not see any temper tantrums by prosecutors or lawyers for the defendants. Five witnesses for the prosecutors, little known among the public, testified before the judges, adding to testimony from two executives of the Democrat Party - Suthep Thaugsuban and Chinnaworn Boonyakiat - who appeared before the Tribunal in the first hearing. Another witness, former Election Commission (EC) official Amornwit Suwanpha, ratified before the Tribunal his earlier confession to the EC investigation panel in mid-2006 that the Pattana Chart Thai had paid him Bt30,000 to rig membership records. He said he was contacted because he was the only EC official who had a password to enter the data system for political party membership. The hearings are scheduled to be completed by mid-April. If the Thai Rak Thai is found guilty, the party could be dissolved. Weerayut Chokchaimadon The Nation
|
