New A-G backs judicial rejig

New A-G backs judicial rejig

Khemchai Chutiwong, the newly appointed attorney-general, yesterday expressed his confidence in the neutrality and efficiency of the committee which will reform judicial procedures.

"The committee should be seen as an outsider which doesn't have any conflict of interest in judicial procedures. So, it should be neutral and able to design reform guidelines that will suit all parties," he said.

"All sides should therefore accept the committee's recommendations. We're ready to accept and support the work of the reform committee," he said.

The committee consists of members who aren't police or public prosecutors, he said, adding that although some are former prosecutors, they are now academics.

Mr Khemchai also agreed with calls to get public prosecutors and the police to work together in the process of investigating a case, saying the prosecutors are more familiar with court procedures and they know what kind of witnesses the court expects to hear.

So, if the police investigators can work more closely together with the prosecutors from the outset, investigators should be able to better plan their probe to obtain solid evidence and secure sufficient witnesses, he said.

In some previous major drug cases in which police investigators were successful in court, they had voluntarily sought to work with prosecutors from the beginning, he said.

Also in certain cases which involved a huge volume of evidence, police investigators found themselves working faster and more efficiently when they sought to work with prosecutors although there was no law requiring to them to do so, he said.

One example was the investigation into the human trafficking case involving the smuggling of Rohingya people through Thailand, he said.

"In reality, police and prosecutors have begun working together in this manner for some time. Police were satisfied with the outcome," he said.

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