Suriya fails to show up
Suriya Jungrungreangkit sent his lawyer yesterday to give written testimony to the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) about corruption allegations concerning the purchase of CTX bomb-detectors for Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Paiboon Termwat arrived at the AEC in the morning in a bid to postpone Suriya's testimony before Amnuay Thantara, the chairman of the AEC subcommittee probing the allegations.He said his client "was being hospitalised in the United States" and asked to postpone the testimony. However, Amnuay's panel objected to the request, saying Suriya has already postponed giving testimony twice. Paiboon then left, but returned later with a document containing Suriya's written defence against the corruption allegations. He also submitted a doctor's certificate from Siriraj Hospital stating that the former deputy prime minister is sick. Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka said Suriya could still testify in person before the AEC, but must show up by June 14. Meanwhile, a source at the AEC said that although Suriya must respond by the date, he could testify in writing if he was still in hospital. Meanwhile, former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai testified before the AEC for more than two hours yesterday about the Export-Import Bank of Thailand's Bt4-billion loan to Burma. Surakiart testified that he did not agree with the move to increase the loan from Bt3 billion to Bt4 billion, and gave his reasons why. Budsarakham Sinlapalavan, Bancha Khaengkhan The Nation
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