NACC says evidence insufficient; Abhisit, Korn insist they broke no laws
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has decided to conduct further investigation of the short message service (SMS) case involving Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, NACC member Klanarong Chantik said yesterday.
Based on the preliminary report, Abhisit and Korn formulated a policy to communicate with the people before the royal appointment of the prime minister on December 17, 2008, Klanarong said.
On December 16, 2008, Korn called a meeting of three mobile-phone operators, AIS, DTAC and True Move, asking for their cooperation to provide an SMS as a public service.
The SMS was sent out after the government came to power and all messages were screened and approved by Abhisit and Korn. The three operators signed off the SMS as sent by UR PM, an abbreviation for "your prime minister".
The three operators confirmed they had cooperated in sending out SMSs as a public service on several occasions in the past, such as the publicity related to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in 2003, royal ceremonies, The tsunami calamity, the power seizure and the Bangkok gubernatorial race.
After its discussion on Thursday, the NACC found insufficient factual information to rule on grounds for guilt.
The complaint against Abhisit and Korn included legal and tax issues over the granting of an income-tax exemption for revenues generated by the SMS.
Unlike other short messages sent out as a public service, which did not solicit replies, people responded to the SMS sent out by Abhisit and Korn. Each reply generated Bt3 in revenue for the operators.
Korn, after assuming office, issued a ruling to exempt income tax on the revenue from SMSs he deemed as a public service. The NACC decided to collect additional evidence on whether Korn had abused his office with the tax exemption.
After completing the additional probe on the tax issue, the NACC will proceed to rule on whether to launch impeachment proceedings against Abhisit and Korn.
The prime minister and the finance minister insisted yesterday that they did not break any law or have any conflict of interest regarding the SMS issue.
Abhisit said at Government House that he had no concerns about the NACC considering whether it was a violation of the anti-corruption law that bans public-office holders from accepting a gift or any benefit worth more than Bt3,000.
"My intention and conscience were clear, and I was very careful not to break any law," he said.
The prime minister said he was ready to explain the matter to the NCCC. "The principle was clear: no particular party got benefit. The goal of sending an SMS to members of the public was to communicate with the largest group possible," he said.
"I don't see this matter as a violation of the Constitution or any law, and I don't think it's corruption," Abhisit said.
Meanwhile, Korn issued a statement to explain his request for mobile-phone operators to send short messages to their subscribers.
In a press release by the Ministry of Finance, Korn said he respected the NACC decision that the SMS involved government work and was not for Abhisit's personal use. He said the three operators joined the campaign voluntarily while Hutch decided to opt out even though it was majority-owned by the government.
He also noted that recipients of the SMS could choose whether to reply to the message, which would incur a charge of Bt3 for each reply. Those who replied to the short message received a "voice page" containing a recorded message of the prime minister asking for their support of his effort to "build a better future for all Thais and our children and grandchildren".
"The campaign was not aimed at seeking personal benefit whatsoever," Korn said in his statement.
He also said the private companies that joined the campaign should have received praise instead of criticism for promoting a government effort for national unity.
He added that the Ministry of Finance was developing a new SMS campaign as part of a "major change in the way of communication between the government and the grass-roots people". The focus would be on farmer groups that at present have no access to information about government policies.