Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri, as chairman of the extraordinary House Committee on Budget, flatly denied the Opposition's allegation that government MPs who are members of the committee allocate Bt25-Bt40 million to finance investment projects in some MPs' constituencies.
He said that such violated the Constitution as MPs are not bound to budget allocation. He noted that there were some dissatisfaction over the budget alloation, but he had tried his best to allocate it in addressing public needs.
"This is untrue. I insist that there was no such budget allocation. If anyone (revealing this) has any evidence, they should bring it forward to the court," he challenged.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikanij took the budget debate as the opportunity to quash doubts over the allocation. He said that all ministers were instructed to explain the dubious issues, whenever they were implicated during the debate.