POLITICS
Legal panel for rubber saplings case elected
KING-OUA LAOHONG
The Criminal Court will hand down its verdict on the tax evasion case against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's wife Khunying Potjaman and two other defendants on July 31. Khunying Potjaman, her step-brother Bannapot Damapong and her secretary Karnchanapa Honghern were charged by the Office of the Attorney-General following an investigation by the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC).
They are charged with conspiring to evade taxes amounting to 546.12 million baht in the transfer of shares worth 738 million baht in Shinawatra Computer and Communication Co in 1997.
The plaintiff and the defendants have been asked to hand in their closing statements to the court within 10 days.
The verdict will be read on July 31. The court yesterday set the date for its ruling and read the Constitution Court's ruling that the existence of the ASC did not violate the constitution. The defendants had questioned the ASC's status.
None of the defendants were at the court yesterday, only the lawyers representing them were there to hear the court's order.
Khunying Potjaman and the other two defendants have always denied the charges against them.
Khunying Potjaman previously told the court that she gave her shares to Mr Bannapot as a gift and did not intend to evade tax.
Meanwhile, nine judges were yesterday elected to sit on a panel to consider whether to accept a case involving the procurement of 90 million rubber saplings.
Supreme Court president Wirat Limwichai yesterday called a meeting of Supreme Court judges to elect the nine judges to sit on the panel.
On the panel are seven chiefs of the Supreme Court sections and two senior Supreme Court judges.
The panel will rule on Aug 6 whether to accept the lawsuit field by the ASC against 44 people in the Thaksin administration, including former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak and former deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister Newin Chidchob, over their alleged involvement in illegal bidding for the state's 1.4-billion-baht rubber sapling distribution contract.
The other defendants included senior officials at the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry and executives of three companies _Charoen Pokphand, Resort Land Co and Ekcharoen Agricultural Co.
The ASC found the politicians and officials abused their power, while the three firms were accused of colluding in the bidding.
The Criminal Court, meanwhile, has scheduled the first hearing for Dec 16 in a 100-million-baht defamation suit filed by Mr Newin and his father, House Speaker Chai Chidchob, against Democrat deputy leader Alongkorn Ponlabutr.
In the suit, the plaintiffs accuse Mr Alongkorn of defaming them for alleged encroachment on Khao Kradong mountain in Buri Ram province.
Mr Alongkorn made his remarks on Jan 28-29 last year, accusing certain influential politicians in Buri Ram of encroaching on the State Railway of Thailand's (SRT) land in Satuk district.
There were two encroached plots covering 44 rai of land.
Mr Alongkorn said he would fight the.
He said he had performed his duty as the chairman of a panel investigating corruption. He vowed to fight the case until the end.
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