The government on Thursday said it was “fed up” with former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s repeated attempts to “buy time” to stave seizure of her personal assets as compensation for her administration’s rice-pledging scheme.
Ms Yingluck last week wrote to a Commerce Ministry fact-finding committee asking or the Dec 30 deadline to be extended so she could have 18 more witnesses to testify.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd on Thursday said the ministry committee already had extended the deadline three times since April as Ms Yingluck requested more witnesses be heard.
"The government is fed up with [Ms Yingluck's] behaviour delaying the investigation. She has asked for more witnesses three times, now totalling dozens of individuals," Maj Gen Sansern said.
The spokesman claimed that many of the former premier's witnesses have not been "cooperative", requiring the committee to spend more time than usual to get useful information.
Maj Gen Sansern said some of the latest witnesses raised questions as to how they could have been linked with the case, such as a former permanent secretary for information and communications technology, former justice minister and former Phitsanulok provincial governor.
He said it was unknown how long the demands for more witnesses will go on.
"If the (latest) request is intended just to buy time and prolong the case, it's not right because people have been waiting for the outcome for a long time and every case has a statute of limitations," Maj Gen Sansern said.
Ms Yingluck put a happy face on her Facebook account but the government seems determined to wipe away the smile.
The fact-finding panel will first consider Ms Yingluck's plea and send its opinion to the government for a final decision, the spokesman added.