EC abandons Newin tape inquiry

Published on February 18, 2005

The Election Commission has dropped its investigation into the audiotape alleged to be Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob promising to allocate funding in exchange for votes in Satun and Phatthalung.

“The investigation was terminated because police forensic experts found that the tape was not sufficiently audible to verify if it was Newin’s voice,” EC member Prinya Nakchudtree said yesterday.

Prinya said the Police Scientific Crime Detection Division was the only forensics unit equipped to verify the authenticity of the tape, adding that the country’s judicial system had no comparable agency to do so.

The decision to abandon the investigation was made after Thaworn Senniam, Democrat Party member and petitioner for the probe, failed to provide a more audible tape, he added.

Thaworn alleged last month that Newin had promised to allocate Bt100,000 per tambon if Thai Rak Thai candidates won the general election in the two southern provinces.

Reacting to the commission’s decision, Thaworn said police officers might not have the courage to perform their duty.

“Every country around the world, even Laos and Burma, can verify recorded voices. The question is whether or not Thai police are willing to do their job,” he said.

He urged the EC to submit the tape for examination by research facilities at any accredited electronic engineering faculty.

Post your comment to this story here