Thamarak denies everything
Thamarak Isarangura, the former defence minister and ex-deputy leader of the Thai Rak Thai Party, told the Constitution Tribunal on Tuesday he did not pay money to a small party, as claimed in the electoral fraud case.
Tuesday was the first time Thamarak testified to the Tribunal, although he and former Thai Rak Thai deputy secretary general Pongsak Ruktapongpisal were accused of hiring candidates from Pattana Chart Thai Party to run in the April 2 election last year. The accusation by Democrat Party's deputy secretary general Suthep Thaugsuban resulted in the Election Commission (EC) investigation. The EC then filed a petition with the AttorneyGeneral who in turn brought the case to the Constitution Court before last September's military coup. It then became an electoral fraud case that could lead to the party's dissolution. Thamarak told the Tribunal on Tuesday he had never met nor given money to Pattana Chart Thai representatives at the Defence Ministry as accused. He said that at the time he was accused of meeting Pattana Chart Thai representatives, he was with Nong Khai's assistant provincial governor Samarn Wongwarayut to discuss presiding over an annual event of the province. After that he met with then commander of the First Infantry Division of the Royal Guards, MajGeneral Pruen Suwannathat, to discuss security measures at a Thai Rak Thai rally that evening. Thamarak said he had never known Pattana Chart Thai coordinator Chawakarn Tosawat, nor Pongsri Siwamoke and Toi Chulapat who accompanied him. Meanwhile, Tawee Suwannapat, who the Democrats described as a close aide to Thamarak, was an independent reporter who had given information about violence in the deep South to Thamarak as the defence minister, Thamarak said. However, he claimed that Tawee wasn't close to him and that Tawee always left the information with Thamarak's close aide Colonel Cherdpong Boonyakiat, who was in charge of the information on violence in the restive South. Tawee never handed the information to him directly, Thamarak said. He said the close circuit cameras at the ministry were in a "test run period" at the time. He approved the installation himself and would not have had done so to catch pictures of him doing anything wrong. Suthep used nine pictures captured from the closecircuit cameras as evidence to accuse Thamarak. Kornchanok Raksaseri The Nation The Nation
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