BANGKOK, 24 April 2014 – A lawyer defending Prime Minister Yingluck in the charge related to the rice pledging scheme has asked the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to allow more witnesses to testify for the Prime Minister.
Mr. Bancha Parameesanaporn, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s lawyer, submitted a letter to the NACC requesting that the latter summon four more witnesses in defense of the Premier over the charges of negligence of duty and failure to stop corruption in the rice subsidy program.
The lawyer said that hearing testimonies from additional witnesses would not delay the inquiry process, but would, instead, give the NACC more useful details on the case.
The NACC earlier decided to hear only 3 out of the 10 witnesses proposed by Miss Yingluck. The three witnesses were Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan, Deputy Commerce Minister Yanyong Phuangrach, and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong. The anti-graft agency gave a reason that the seven other witnesses who were unheard were irrelevant to the case and those 3 witnesses had already provided sufficient information.
