Democrat flays police chief over pastrygate

Metropolitan Police Region Bureau commissioner Maj-General Amnuay Nimmano, chief investigator, reportedly said the case lacked legal grounds because the culprits had not persuaded anyone to commit wrong, so there was no intention to commit a crime - a deciding factor in a criminal case.

The three lawyers involved in the case were subsequently sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court.

"If he [Amnuay] really said that, it means the Thaksin regime still haunts the justice system, from police to public prosecutors. Investigators have duties to find evidence and question people involved and to trace the route of the Bt2 million. They must raise questions such as who benefited from the attempted bribery," Sathit said.

A Supreme Court source claimed that on the day the three lawyers offered a pastry box stashed with Bt2 million to a senior judge, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra also went to the court.

Thaksin is to stand trial in the Ratchadaphisek land case at the same court where his lawyers turned up with the money.

Investigators must assume there was an attempt to bribe judges if only half the evidence pointed to a crime of bribery, the source said.

In most bribery cases, there is no evidence, but investigators can depend on circumstantial evidence, the source added.

Dr Wisut Boonkasemsanti was sentenced to death for murdering his wife, even though there was no hard evidence but only circumstantial evidence.

"In this case, police must take time to collect evidence. It is not right to say that the case lacks evidence two days after the complaint was levelled," the source said.

"The Supreme Court is the damaged party in this case. This is about the integrity of judges. Judges across the country are watching how the case will be wrapped up. The fact that the court ruled that a complaint must be filed with police shows that judges are confident that something went wrong."

Corrections Department director-general Wanchai Rujanawong said Pichit Chuenban and Suphasri Srisawat, two of the jailed lawyers, had been able to adjust to living conditions in prison after four days.

"They do not show any mental problems and only looked stressed in the first few days," he said.