POLITICS
The Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) has hit back at the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC) over its handling of corruption investigation cases, saying the ASC's inquiries were incomplete at some points. Deputy Attorney-General Waiyawut Lortrakul, who chairs a prosecution panel to consider indictments in cases forwarded to the OAG by the ASC, yesterday defended the panel's decision to defer some fraud cases against members of the Thaksin Shinawatra government.
Former ASC members complained that the OAG had sought more evidence from the ASC rather than simply filing cases with the court.
Mr Waiyawut said the ASC had forwarded 11 cases to the OAG.
Of those cases, two _ tax evasion claims arising from the Shin Corp share transfers and the 772-million-baht Ratchadaphisek land deal _ had been submitted to the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.
 |
| Deputy Attorney-General Waiyawut Lortrakul, who chairs a prosecution panel handling cases forwarded by the Assets Scrutiny Committee, makes a point at yesterday's press conference. — APICHART JINAKUL |
However, the ASC's investigations into five other cases had been incomplete and the OAG returned them to the ASC for more evidence.
The ASC, which completed its term on Monday, decided to take three of the five cases to court itself, said Mr Waiyawut.
Those cases concern the two- and three-digit lottery scheme, the procurement of 90 million rubber saplings, and the Export-Import Bank of Thailand's four-billion-baht loan to Burma.
The OAG said another two ASC probes were incomplete: those involving the procurement of the CTX 9000 bomb scanners, and the seizure of Mr Thaksin's 76-billion-baht assets due to abnormalities in the sale of shares in Shin Corp.
''The ASC should not rush to file the digit-lottery, the rubber sampling and the Exim Bank cases to court. It is a bypass procedure.
''It should have awaited the OAG's recommendations on those cases,'' he said.
He said returning the case to the ASC did not mean that the OAG refused to file the cases to the court, but prosecutors wanted strong evidence and completed investigations before filing them.
A joint panel of the ASC and OAG could have collected the evidence required by OAG.
That could have been accomplished before the ASC's term ended, if the ASC had agreed to such a proposal.
The OAG's decision to defer some fraud cases by notifying the ASC that its probes were incomplete did not mean that the OAG held different views from the ASC.
The prosecution wanted the ASC to gather further evidence to substantiate charges against the accused, so the cases would hold up, said Mr Waiyawut.
The prosecution's recommendations on the ASC's investigations were aimed at correcting flaws and loopholes to prevent possible damages, he said.
Any flaws, if not corrected, would result in the cases being dropped when they reached court.
Prosecutors were not just mailmen, he said.
The ASC tended to see prosecutors as young lawyers, and tended to ignore or even oppose their views.
''If the prosecutors were unable to use their judgment in these cases, they would serve the function only of postmen. In that case, why would we have them?'' he asked.
Regarding the OAG's decision to defer the case concerning the seizure of Mr Thaksin's 76 billion baht in assets, he said information regarding the amount of money to be seized was incomplete.
The ASC's probe covered a sum worth only 69 billion baht which the ASC had ordered frozen. It did not cover the remaining amount.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Next
