The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) yesterday brushed aside concerns over a change of statement by a company testifying in a hearing concerning the rice-pledging scheme under the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
NACC president Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit yesterday said he was not worried about the change as there still was solid evidence to prosecute 28 individuals and juristic entities embroiled in the first lot of allegedly bogus government-to-government (G-to-G) rice sales.
The defendants also include former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol, former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and rice trading tycoon Apichart "Sia Piang" Chansakulporn, an executive of Siam Indica Co.
Pol Gen Watcharapol's comment came after a firm, which was running a rice business, changed its statement to prosecutors at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions. The company's name was not given. In a previous statement to the graft-busters, the company said it met a high-ranking politician to discuss the alleged rice sales via Siam Indica Co, one of the Thai firms which allegedly issued cashier's cheques totalling about 1.9 billion baht, under the names of Chinese companies, to purchase the rice.
However, the firm has now changed that to say it met a phu yai, or influential figure rather than a politician, which prompted prosecutors to remove the company from its witness list. Prosecutors also asked the NACC to withdraw the firm from its witness list.
An NACC source, however, said the company will remain a witness in the second lot of alleged G-to-G deals which also involve Mr Boonsong, Mr Aphichart and Pranee Siriphand, who was then director-general of the Foreign Trade Department. According to the source, the NACC said it was not certain if the firm actually changed the testimony as the word "phu yai" can be broadly defined to include a political figure as well.
The source said it was hard to comprehend why the prosecution thought the term had a narrow scope of meaning. The NACC, however, insisted the firm mentioned it met a high-ranking politician in a statement it gave to the commission. The agency was also in the process of re-examining the company's statement.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the rice scandal had caused big damage to the country's financial standing, forcing the government to dispense several billion baht to help farmers.