Decision looms on Thaksin giving
The Constitution Tribunal will decide tomorrow whether to call former Thai Rak Thai Party leader and premier Thaksin Shinawatra to testify and whether to include Democrat executive Suwaroj Palang as a witness in a major electoral fraud case.
Besides Thaksin, Thai Rak Thai's acting leader Chaturon Chaisang, former executives Pongthep Thepkanjana and Prommin Lertsuridej are due to testify in the court next Tuesday. Pongthep said the party filed defence documents to the court last Friday, and it was eager to know if the Attorney-General or Tribunal would want to ask Thaksin more questions, so it could prepare for him to visit - or appear via video conference. Testifying by video could be costly and ineffective but travel by Thaksin could also be difficult, Pongthep said. If time was tight, he would ask the Tribunal to delay Thaksin's testimony till next week. The seventh hearing in the election fraud case against Thai Rak Thai went smoothly yesterday, despite a defence protest against former Election Commission (EC) chairman Vasana Puemlarp, who was among the witnesses. Vasana questioned how the investigation report from the EC panel chaired by Nam Yimyaem, classed as "Confidential", had got to the media's hands on May 8 last year. He said that when the report was completed, the Nam panel's deputy secretary, Komet Pratheep-thong, gave him a copy and Nam another one. He received his copy at 5pm, but the media had already posted it on their home pages at 3pm. Komet told the Tribunal Nam signed the report at 5pm and it was still with him unsigned at 3pm. He said Vasana and Nam received a copy of the report but he did not know how the media got a copy. The copy released on the websites was already signed by Nam. During last year's political crisis, Vasana and EC members faced protests for alleged bias. The Nam committee found Thai Rak Thai and Thaksin Shinawatra, as its leader, guilty of election fraud. Nam and Vasana were in conflict over the investigation. Vasana called for further digging, including questioning more witnesses but Nam said his report was complete. Vasana told the Tribunal he ordered members of Nam's panel to probe more but Nam refused. The panel then investigated witnesses accused of being close to Thai Rak Thai executives and of hiring candidates from small parties. Nam had earlier claimed they refused to testify, Vasana said. Although Vasana saw no clear evidence Thaksin and TRT chiefs were involved, he left it to the Attorney-General to decide on. Nam said yesterday he had followed the law in the probe and acted fairly.
Kornchanok Raksaseri The Nation
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