The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Friday rejected additional evidence from former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and set Jan 9 for opening statements on the impeachment case relating to her loss-ridden rice-pledging scheme.
The lawyer's team of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra speaks to the National Legislative Assembly at the parliament on Friday. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
Ms Yingluck's lawyers appeared at the NLA meeting on Friday hoping to submit 72 additional items of evidence to support the defence case that Ms Yingluck had not negligently failed to review and halt corruption in the rice scheme, as the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has charged.
Ms Yingluck's past government bought rice from farmers at prices up to 40% higher than the market price for several years, causing losses to the state reported to total hundreds of billions of baht. As prime minister, she chaired the National Rice Policy Committee.
Norawit Lalaeng, Ms Yingluck's lawyer, told the assembly that the NACC had rejected some of the additional evidence and failed to raise other evidence for consideration in her favour.
NACC member Vicha Mahakhun responded, saying that the NACC could decide whether it would consider certain evidence or not. He said the NACC had been ready to accept some of the additional evidence Ms Yingluck's lawyers tried to present on Friday, but her lawyers had refused to hand it over.
Mr Vicha also told the NLA that during the NACC's investigation into Ms Yingluck's case its office had been besieged and fired on with war weapons.
Later the NLA rejected 28 items of evidence that Ms Yingluck's team had earlier submitted to the NACC by 165 votes to 15.
It rejected five items of evidence relating to a sub-committee investigating and following up the rice-pledging scheme, by 122 votes to 63, and dismissed 39 pieces of evidence concerning results of meetings of the National Rice Policy Committee and a sub-committee supervising rice pledging, by 148 votes to 31.
Before the vote on the additional evidence, NLA president Pornpet Wichitcholchai confirmed that the NLA had authority to handle the impeachment case against Ms Yingluck, under the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
He also said the NACC and Ms Yingluck's team could deliver their opening statements to the NLA at 10am on Jan 9.
Lawyer Norawit said that Ms Yingluck might be present at the NLA for the opening statements.