The nation's top graft fighters have spurned a demand by the Office of the Attorney-General for more evidence in the investigation into former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the rice-pledging scheme.
National Anti-Corruption Commission secretary-general Sansern Poljiak said on Saturday the agency had done enough and would not agree to the request by the Office of the Attorney-General.
Mr Sansern said the OAG's request for more information on government-to-government contracts was completely irrelevant to the investigation into Ms Yingluck and her alleged failure to stop mounting losses in the scheme.
He said the NACC stood firm over its report of the investigation into Ms Yingluck and that it was complete both in terms of witness accounts and evidence.
The OAG has repeated its demand for the NACC to question more witnesses and gather more evidence before it can decide on whether to indict Ms Yingluck.
Surasak Trirattrakul, director-general of the OAG's Litigation Department, said it was unlikely the department could make a decision on the case by the end of the month as it needed more time to hear from witnesses and review related evidence.
Mr Sanserm said on Friday the NACC will hold a final discussion on the issue at a meeting Monday in order to conclude on its last step.
But it will meet with OAG officials on Tuesday for further discussions in a joint committee, set up on Sept 4, to work on the case, NACC chairman Panthep Klanarongran said yesterday.
The committee is expected to discuss the OAG's request for more information on government-to-government deals, Mr Panthep said.
If the meeting cannot reach a conclusion on the request, the NACC will have to exercise its right to move to an indictment on its own, he said.
Mr Sansern said the deals were irrelevant to Ms Yingluck's case and not part of the NACC's investigation report.
He said Ms Yingluck is only accused of failing to use her authority to stop further losses from the scheme.
The government-to-government deals, meanwhile, concern a related probe into alleged acts of corruption being pursued against former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapol.
He said he was puzzled as to why the OAG wanted the NACC to look into the government-to-government rice sales.
Mr Surasak also said Attorney-General Trakul Winitnaiyapak had pointed out that if all additional documents and witness accounts the NACC thinks are crucial are obtained, and the OAG's queries about the government deals are answered, the case will be ready for prosecution.
According to Mr Surasak, the NACC report stated the government deals claimed by the Yingluck administration did not exist.
But the report contained conflicting accounts about the existence of the deals as some witnesses had said there were sales and some said there weren't, Mr Surasak said.
Former Democrat Party MP Warong Dechgitvigrom said people following developments in the case could see that the joint NACC-OAG committee was not making any progress.
It had been four months since the panel was established, Mr Warong said.
"After all this, if the NACC stands firm on its stance to indict the suspect on its own, the OAG should then make a clear decision rather than keep saying the NACC should investigate further," he said.
At the OAG's request, the two agencies set up the joint committee to work on three main points in the NACC's report.
One was whether the former prime minister had the authority to suspend the rice-pledging scheme.
The second point dealt with the NACC's allegation that Ms Yingluck should be charged with dereliction of duty.
The OAG wants more time to check whether Ms Yingluck made an effort to investigate the losses, and if she did, what the results of the investigation were.
The final point involved the OAG seeking more witnesses to the alleged corruption and more details.