Court extends testimony dateline for Thailand's Caretaker PM

BANGKOK, April 23 (TNA) - Bangkok's Constitutional Court has extended its deadline for Thailand's Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to send her testimony on her unlawful transfer of Thawil Pliensri as the secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC) for another 14 days. The Constitutional Court ordered on Wednesday that Yingluck, thus, testify before the court again on May 2, 2014, while announcing as well to hear witnesses in the case on May 6, including the caretaker prime minister herself, Senator and complainant Paibul Nititawan, Thawil and Police General Wichean Potephosree, who succeeded Thawil as the NSC secretary-general. The Constitutional Court will later rule on the caretaker prime minister's status in relation to Thawil's transfer. Meanwhile, the caretaker prime minister proposed four additional witnesses to defend herself from the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC)’s investigation into her roles in her administration's loss-ridden rice-pledging scheme. The caretaker prime minister's lawyer, Bancha Porameesanaporn, submitted the list of the four proposed witnesses to the NACC on Wednesday afternoon, including now Caretaker Labor Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who headed corruption investigation in the rice-pledging scheme, Deputy National Police Chief Police General Worapong Chewprecha, who investigated alleged rice losses, Caretaker Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Varathep Ratanakorn and President of the Federation of Accounting Professions Pichai Chunhavajira, all of whom are among seven additional witnesses the anti-graft panel earlier rejected. The lawyer quoted the caretaker prime minister as saying that the four additional witnesses could offer adequate facts and legal opinions that would guarantee justice for her.(TNA)