Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is surrounded by supporters as
she arrives at the Supreme Court yesterday to make her closing
statement in the case linked to her government’s controversial
rice-pledging scheme.
‘No concern’ about mobilization ahead of August 25 verdict.
PRIME MINISTER General Prayut Chan-o-cha
yesterday rejected allegations by former prime minister Yingluck
Shinawatra, insisting that he had never interfered in the judicial
process as she alleged during her closing remarks to the Supreme Court
yesterday.
Yingluck earlier said in court that junta chief Prayut, who staged a
coup to topple her government three years ago, had implied in a recent
statement that she was guilty in the case relating to her government’s
rice-pledging scheme, otherwise she would never have been brought to
court.
Prayut said yesterday the junta government had only provided testimony
as witnesses for the plaintiff, which is the government itself.
“I never led [the decision] of the court. I don’t have to order them,”
the premier said. “The judicial system is always independent. They have
inspected the issues based on facts and they’ve finished.”
Yingluck is accused of negligence and malfeasance for allegedly ignoring
corruption related to the rice-pledging scheme conducted while she was
in office, despite a warning from the Office of the Auditor-General.
