Yingluck sues attorney-general over rice case

Yingluck sues attorney-general over rice case

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and former prime minister Somchai Wongsuwan arrive at the Criminal Court on Tuesday morning to file abuse of authority charges against the attorney general and three prosecutors handling the rice scheme corruption brought case against her. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and former prime minister Somchai Wongsuwan arrive at the Criminal Court on Tuesday morning to file abuse of authority charges against the attorney general and three prosecutors handling the rice scheme corruption brought case against her. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday sued attorney-general Trakul Winitnaiyaphak and three other prosecutors in the Criminal Court for alleged abuse of power in handling the case against her in connection with her government's controversial rice-pledging scheme.

In her lawsuit, Ms Yingluck accused Mr Trakul, Chutichai Sakhakorn, Surasak Treerattrakul and Kittinan Thatpramuk of violating Sections 83, 157 and 200 of the Criminal Code, causing damage to others in their handling of the case against her in the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.

Ms Yingluck was accompanied by former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and lawyer Sommai Koosap when she arrived at the court this morning.

In the lawsuit, Ms Yingluck said there were three contentious points in the case against her. These involved the rice-pledging scheme, the alleged dereliction of duty, and the alleged corruption.

The attorney-general had failed to further investigate these points as required by the Criminal Procedures Code for holders of political positions, thus putting her at a disadvantage.  Instead, the attorney-general decided to indict her in the Supreme Court only one hour before the National Legislative Assembly voted to impeach her, Ms Yingluck said.

She further stated that in the indictment the prosecutors said she knew there were corrupt practices in the scheme, and allowed them to continue. This accusation was made by the prosecutors, in addition to what the NACC originally stated in its investigation report, she said.

Moreover, during the court procedure, the prosecutors submitted an additional 60,000 pages of documents for inclusion in the case. These documents had not been used in evidence during the investigation by the NACC and a subsequent joint task force comprising the NACC and prosecutors, Ms Yingluck. This was illegal, she alleged.

After filing the case, Ms Yingluck said she was exercising her right to defend herself.

The NACC last year petitioned the NLA to impeach Ms Yingluck, accusing her of dereliction of duty while  prime minister in failing to stop corruption and massive financial losses in her government's rice-pledging scheme.

On Jan 22, the NLA voted to impeach Ms Yingluck. As a result, Ms Yingluck has been banned from political office for five years.

On the same day, before the NLA's impeachment vote, Mr Trakul, the attorney-general, announced his decision to indict her in the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions over the rice-pledging scheme, as requested by the NACC.

The NACC concluded that the implementation of the rice scheme from 2011 to 2014 resulted in a posted loss of 518 billion baht, meaning about 200 billion baht per year, and the state would take about three decades to repay the debts resulting from the loss incurred using the taxpayers' money.

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