Two former ministers in the Yingluck Shinawatra government have refused to acknowledge charges brought against them by the National Anti-Corruption Commission over the payment of compensation to victims of political protests, according to Daily News Online.
Former deputy prime minister and foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul and former deputy defence minister Sukumpol Suwanatat turned up at the NACC office on Tuesday to submit a letter refusing to acknowledge the charges.
Ms Yingluck, Mr Surapong, ACM Sukumpol and 31 other former members of her government are accused of abusing their authority and acting dishonestly in paying costly compensation to the families of protesters who were wounded or killed during political demonstrations from 2005 to 2010.
Most of the recipients were families of red-shirt protesters.
The commissioners ruled last month that the two billion baht scheme had no legal basis to support it.
The NACC sent a letter to the former ministers, telling them to report to it to acknowledge the charges by June 30.
Mr Surapong said that he and ACM Sukumpol refused to acknowledge the charges because Pakdi Pothisiri, one of a NACC subcommittee which handled the investigation into the compensation case, was not an NACC member. Therefore, the NACC resolution appointing the subcommittee was not filled.
He said when Mr Pakdi was appointed to sit on the NACC, he was required to resign from membership of all business enterprises within 15 days.
But, according to the records of the Commerce Ministry's Business Development Department, Mr Pakdi resigned from the board of Government Pharmaceutical Organisation-Merieux Biological Products Co Ltd (GPO-MBP) after the 15-day period expired.
Therefore, it could be assumed that Mr Pakdi had never been a legal member of the NACC from the beginning, Mr Surapong said.
"As the accused, we would be happy to fight our case within the NACC's justice process. But all NACC members must be legally appointed. In this case, an NACC member was not qualified and lacks the legitimacy to sit on the commission.
"Therefore, the letter sent to me and other former ministers to report to the NACC to acknowledge the charges has no legal binding. I and ACM Sukumpol will refuse to acknowledge the charges until the NACC chairman can prove that the current NACC has been legally installed," Mr Surapong said.