Not Guilty

Newin

The Court delivered the verdict at about 5pm after the three-hour reading. 

Earlier a defence lawyer in the rubber sapling case dismissed rumours that officials on the panel on policies and measures to provide support for farmers and companies involved in the project would seek court approval to postpone the verdict.

The Supreme Court delivered the verdict on the alleged Bt1.4-billion irregularities in the case involving 44 defendants, including several former ministers in the Thaksin cabinet.

Thanakorn Vaekvaree said his clients would definitely turn up to hear the verdict today and he had not been told by anyone to request that the verdict be put off.

National Anti-Corruption Commission attorney Jetsada Anujaree said he had not been informed that any of the defendants are seeking a postponement of the court ruling. But if anyone wanted to do so, they still had time because the court would hand down the verdict only in the afternoon. He said if there was no such request, the court could take recourse to he second paragraph of Article 32 of the Criminal Procedure Code for political officer holders Act 1999 to read the verdict in absentia.

If there is a request to postpone the verdict, the judge panel would decide whether to postpone it or not.

Former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik is the only one of 44 defendants in the rubber sapling case who failed to appear before the Supreme Court on August 17 to hear its verdict.

His lawyer said he was in the US for spine treatment, but the nine judges seemed unconvinced.

The court had issued a warrant for his arrest, fined his guarantor Bt1 million and postponed the reading of the verdict to today.