THAKSIN CHARGES
The prosecution agreed to defer a scheduled court hearing on the SC Asset shares concealment case yesterday after three of the four defendants, including former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said they were too busy to attend. The Office of the Attorney-General (AOG) had been expected to announce if it would take the case to trial.
The matter was further adjourned until Sept 16.
Prosecutor Wongsakul Kittipromwong, of the attorney-general's special litigation office, said Mr Thaksin, his wife Khunying Potjaman, and Bussaba Damapong, a former executive of SC Asset Corp, failed to show.
Only Pensome Damapong, an executive of SC Asset, appeared to testify.
Mr Thaksin, his wife and the two members of the Damapong family are accused of concealing their shareholdings in SC Asset, a property development company established by the Shinawatra family.
The three absent defendants asked through their lawyer to postpone the hearing because they had other engagements to attend to, Mr Wongsakul said.
The Department of Special Investigation also had not sent some important evidence requested by the Office of the Attorney-General, so the prosecution agreed to the adjournment, he said.
Sommai Kusap, a lawyer for the defendants, said Mr Thaksin and Khunying Potjaman had not gone overseas or been taken ill. The couple would appear on Sept 16 to hear the indictment decision.
In another courtroom, Nam Yimyaem, a former member of the now defunct Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC), gave evidence on the Ratchadaphisek land purchase case, being heard by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.
Mr Thaksin and his wife are facing charges over Kunying Potjaman's purchase of 33 rai of land from the Bank of Thailand's Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) in 2003.
After leaving the courtroom, Mr Nam said the ASC, which had handled the case, did not force the FIDF to lodge a complaint against the couple. The damage was done when the land was sold for 772 million baht, far lower than the market price of about two billion baht.
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