IN BRIEF
Election commission: TRT reports Bt12.9m in debts, minor parties botch their reports
The disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party has reported its assets to the Election Commission (EC), but three small dissolved parties did not report assets correctly, an EC member said yesterday.
Sodsri Satayatham said Thai Rak Thai reported liabilities of Bt12.9 million on May 30. Its income was Bt24 million, including money and assets donated. Assets included cash deposits, office equipment and vehicles worth Bt11 million. However, it had Bt43 million in expenses.The report did not include its land and office building, because it rented the office from Pojaman Shinawatra, wife of former prime minister and party leader Thaksin. The Pattana Chart Thai and Progressive Democratic parties did not file a report, while the Thai Ground Party filed a report without the signature of an auditor, Sodsri said. Fast outside parliament : Monks refuse to join PTV rally A spokesman for a group of monks called "March of Dharma" yesterday admitted that the group had been asked by People's Television (PTV) to join an anti-coup rally at Sanam Luang this weekend. March of Dharma is protesting against the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) outside Parliament and is demanding the recognition of Buddhism as the state religion. Phra Vijit Yansopano said PTV, which held a rally at Sanam Luang recently, had asked the Buddhist monks to join them. "They [PTV] told us that if we joined the anti-coup rally to oust the Council for National Security and cancel the draft charter, they would give us whatever support we wanted," said Phra Vijit. However, the monks' group declined to join the anti-coup rally, saying that they did not want to become political tools. Assets examination committee: Suriya fails to front yet again Suriya Jungrungreangkit, former transport minister in the deposed Thaksin Shinawatra government, failed to appear yesterday before the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to give testimony over allegations of corruption in the purchase of CTX bomb detectors for Suvarnabhumi Airport. An AEC source said Suriya must give additional testimony to the panel in person in addition to the written defence submitted by his lawyer earlier, when Suriya was in hospital in the US. The subcommittee summoned Suriya to give further testimony yesterday, but the former minister failed to show up. The source said the committee was seeking a Japanese businessman involved in the case but that the man's whereabouts were unknown. "We've asked the police to find him, but if they cannot, then we will remove him from our investigation," the source said. Rent a crowd no 15: Protest outside AEC office A group calling themselves "Thaksin Comeback" yesterday went to the Assets Examination Committee's office to protest against its decision to freeze the assets of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family. The group members condemned the decision as unfair, saying the AEC was a servant of dictators. The group handed a letter to the AEC demanding that the panel quit.
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