Conflict between the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has intensified after the OAG denied the graftbusters' claim that their joint panel decided to press a criminal charge against ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra.
On Tuesday, NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljeak said the joint working committee of the NACC and OAG had agreed at its last meeting of the day to press a criminal charge against Ms Yingluck for her alleged dereliction of duty which allowed irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme and caused massive damage to the state.
Mr Sansern said the committee submitted the recommendation to Attorney-General Trakul Winitchayapak and it expected Mr Trakul to indict Ms Yingluck soon.
But Santanee Ditsayabut, deputy spokeswoman to the OAG, denied that yesterday, saying that contrary to claims made by the NACC, representatives of both agencies did not actually reach a conclusion.
The OAG and the NACC merely discussed new information the NACC had obtained from witness testimonies collected over the past few weeks following the OAG's request, Ms Santanee said.
Last December, the joint working team had to put off its decision following a complaint made by prosecutors that the NACC's investigation reports were incomplete because of conflicting points. Lawyers asked the NACC to gather additional information from witnesses regarding government-to-government rice deals.
Deputy Attorney-General Wuthipong Wiboonwong, as the joint panel chairman and the OAG team head, said the team is still gathering additional information and evidence to complete the investigation.
"Even though I head the OAG delegation at these meetings, I didn't know we reached an agreement with the NACC," he said.
He also denied the NACC's claim that Tuesday's meeting was the last one.
"The OAG side will meet on Monday to discuss the results of Tuesday's meeting. After that I will call a meeting of the joint committee again," he said.
Mr Wuthipong also said he was not even informed about Tuesday's meeting schedule despite the fact that he is the chairman, so he did not attend it.
He said he has not submitted any recommendation to the attorney-general but he wondered if someone else did.
However, Mr Sansern yesterday affirmed that a resolution to transfer Ms Yingluck's case for indictment to lawyers had been passed.
He said only three OAG representatives were present at the meeting while 10 NACC members showed up.
He insisted that the meeting had agreed that the incomplete investigation report was finalised and resolved to press the charge against Ms Yingluck.
"I don't know how the OAG side is coordinating their work," Mr Sansern said.
"At previous meetings, we found it unnecessary to call for the entire working team's presence as a quorum of 13 is sufficient," Mr Sansern said.
An OAG source said the NACC called for the Tuesday meeting a day ahead and only three lawyers could attend as many others were too busy.