The court said all parties concerned must not threaten anyone during court hearings and those who violate this rule will be held in contempt of court and face punishment.
The warning was issued after an unnamed prosecutor filed a complaint with the court, alleging he was threatened on October 7 by a man and a woman after leaving a court hearing in this controversial case.
The court yesterday issued an order for the two people – a man and a woman – who allegedly glared at the prosecutor, to appear in court on December 9. They told the defendants in the case that any acts threatening witnesses and others involved in the case would be unfair to both sides.
Yingluck, who was charged with negligence in executing the rice-pledging scheme, resulting in a Bt500 billion loss to the state, appeared in court yesterday to defend herself along with |witnesses.
Thanusak Lek-uthai, a former deputy finance minister in Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party-led government, told the court that the rice-pledging scheme’s objective was to help farmers nationwide but admitted that some major farmer groups also benefited from the scheme.
In his capacity as chairman of Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), which played the leading role in implementing the scheme, he said the Yingluck government had approved a budget of Bt500 billion to pay for the scheme under which an unlimited volume of rice paddy was purchased from farmers at a price of Bt15,000 per tonne.
He said the Yingluck government did not take profits or losses into consideration, but aimed to stimulate the economy with the scheme.
The former deputy finance minister also told the court that the then government’s outstanding debts were Bt410 billion as of September 18, 2014, but the amount shot up to Bt674 billion on September 30 the same year without an explanation.
Meanwhile, the Prayut government’s rice policy management committee yesterday approved another subsidy scheme for farmers of glutinous rice who have suffered from a decade-low paddy price.
Like Hom Mali rice, glutinous rice farmers with barns will receive Bt13,000 per tonne, including Bt2,000 for harvesting and improvement expenses and another Bt1,500 for storage costs when they participate in the government’s aid programme.
Farmers without barns will not receive the Bt1,500 storage-expense allowance so the pledging price is Bt11,500 per tonne.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the government has struggled to sell a large inventory of rice due to over-production of rice. He urged all stakeholders to help implement a 20-year agricultural reform programme and irrigation policy programme which aims to modernise the agricultural sector and upgrade farmers’ skills.