Yingluck lawyer opposes choice of chairwoman to hear NACC cases
A lawyer representing ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday lodged a petition with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) against its appointment of Supa Piyajitti as chairwoman of all sub-committees handling Ms Yingluck’s cases.
Norawich Lhalaeng said the NACC has up to nine members, and questioned why Ms Supa alone should be allowed to serve as chairwoman of up to six out of 15 cases at the same time.
Worse still, he said, was the reappointment of former NACC member Vicha Mahakhun — who had testified in court in the rice-pledging cases — as a member of several sub-committees, which questions the fairness of these inquiries.
Ms Yingluck on Sept 8 received a letter from the NACC informing her of its appointment of a subcommittee to look into the case in which she was allegedly involved. It stems from the mismanagement of water which resulted in the major floods in 2011, said Mr Norawich.
All the same, Ms Supa was appointed chairwoman of the inquiry sub-committee as well, he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam rebutted critics who say the government has attempted to exploit Section 44 of the interim charter as a tool to unfairly treat suspects in the rice-pledging cases.
That was a malicious and misleading observation, the deputy prime minister said, adding that Section 44 was not actually invoked to seize the assets of those found liable to pay compensation.
The 1996 Public Official Liability Act is being invoked to pursue compensation in the case, and has been applied in more than 3,000 cases of irregularities including City Hall’s fire truck scandal, he said.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week invoked Section 44 to give immunity to officials handling demands for compensation for losses incurred in state agriculture projects.