Jurists to probe 'bribes offer'
The country's top judge appointed three jurists yesterday to investigate allegations that Constitution Tribunal members were offered bribes to fix the Thai Rak Thai Party electoral-fraud trial.
Supreme Court president Panya Thanomrod has asked three unnamed judges to get to the bottom of the claim, according to Courts of Justice spokesman Sarawut Benjakul.He said the panel members were "senior". After the landmark ruling on May 30 allegations emerged that a "senior official" had attempted to buy a not-guilty verdict for Thai Rak Thai by offering tribunal members money. Justice Ministry permanent secretary Charan Phakdithanakul made the claim. He said two of the nine tribunal members were offered kickbacks to fix the verdict and not dissolve the party. They refused, he said. Sarawut said Charan had presented documents purporting to be evidence of the alleged bribery attempt to the Office of the President of the Supreme Court on Monday. Sarawut said the documents were not conclusive. They do not name who offered the bribes or to whom they were allegedly offered. Panya has denied he was one of the recipients, saying he was unaware of the alleged kickback offer until a judge alerted him. Charan said he made the bribery allegations public because it was his job. But he did not want to alienate the judiciary, he said.
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