The pond search came after people told police there was a bad smell in the area, forcing them to fish elsewhere. Rattaphum went missing on December 20.

A cellphone belonging to Rattaphum, 34, was found nearby on Friday. Another search yesterday found a man’s black leather shoe. Both the phone and shoe were collected as evidence and submitted for DNA tests.

Yesterday, officers found bones in the pond area and sent them for forensic tests to determine if they were linked to Rattaphum or at least human.

The London-based human rights organisation said reports that Gina Haspel, 60, had directed the alleged CIA “black site” in Thailand “raise extremely serious concerns”.

It added that detainees held there were subjected to torture and enforced disappearance, and that Haspel could have a possible role in the destruction of evidence of such crimes under international law.

“This announcement comes on the heels of President [Donald] Trump’s recent vocal support for torture, |and means all indicators are flashing red,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director of Amnesty International.

“These allegations are serious and must be subject to close scrutiny. No one should be appointed to a position where they could interfere in the investigation of or facilitate the concealment of crimes under international law,” she said.

He said coal-fired power plants were no longer needed to give the country energy security and suggested that the government should instead focus on alternative energy.

“In a few days, the prime minister is going to make a decision on the coal-fired power plant project in Krabi. Let me put it straight. If you decide to build it, and if I become the government again, I’ll cancel it whenever I can,” said Abhisit, who is the Democrat Party leader.

He said the government should instead considering building power plants fuelled by palm oil, which is available in great abundance in the South. He spoke at King Prajadhipok’s Institute.

Government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that the speculation was untrue as the country’s treasury reserves totalled Bt74.9 billion as of December.

“The government’s fiscal status has remained sufficiently strong. In the first quarter of the current fiscal 2017, the government continuously injected money into the economic system,” the spokesman said.

“The budget disbursed during the period was Bt78-billion higher than the same period in the last fiscal year. Government revenues were Bt27-billion higher than the previous estimate,” he added.

He said the increase in excise tax for aircraft fuel, as well as other kinds of fuel, was in line with the principle of demand and supply in the world market.

In a move designed to boost water planning effectiveness and natural disaster prevention, a central database operation at the 13-year-old Mekhla Centre – which the premier inspected yesterday – will gather and integrate all water-related data from concerned agencies.

“The integrated information will result in better water planning for various groups of water users while preventing and mitigating water-related disasters,” Prayut said.

“The centre will be of importance to the country as we have various groups of water users with different needs. We need to re-manage the whole system in regards to the resources including our databases. It must result in systematic water management from now on.”

Thailand has faced massive losses from flood and drought damages, particularly in 2011 when the country was hit with its worst flooding in 100 years. Tens of thousands of people were affected for months, especially those living in the Central Plains, and damage was estimated at billions of baht.

This year, major flooding in the South affected thousands of residents and their properties.

The National Water Resources Committee in November assigned the Water Resources Department to set up the national database centre to bring together scattered information so that concerned agencies could create better databases for planning.

Worasart Apaipong, the department’s chief, said the centre was ready to be upgraded as it had already linked data from 35 water-related agencies.

The models to run all 25 prime watersheds will be operational by May next year, he added.

The database at the centre will include water forecasts, warnings, water planning and future strategies, he said.

FORMER Finance minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong has strongly defended former premier Yingluck Shinawatra’s implementation of the controversial rice-pledging scheme before the Supreme Court’s criminal division for holders of political office.

Kittiratt told the court the scheme was well-planned in terms of its economic worthiness and there was no fiscal mismanagement as alleged by the public |prosecutors.

Former PM Yingluck is facing charges of negligence of her official duty in overseeing the rice-pledging scheme, which cost taxpayers more than Bt500 billion.

Kittiratt, also a former deputy PM of the Yingluck government, said the project was necessary in terms of addressing the economic inequality faced by farmers and low-income people, while the target groups were 3.7 million farm households or a total of 15 million people.

On the Bt15,000-per-tonne rice-pledging price, Kittiratt said the price, which doubled the prevailing market price, was based on farmers’ production costs and a minimum wage of Bt300 per day, as the Yingluck government had also raised the starting salary for new graduates with a bachelor’s degree to Bt15,000 per month.

He said there were studies on the merits of rice-pledging schemes in comparison with other methods to help farmers such as farm price insurance schemes implemented by previous governments.

However, these studies found that farmers did not get the guaranteed price as stated and there were difficulties in verifying in the |registration of farmers qualified to join the insurance schemes since rice crops took only two to three months before they were ready for harvesting.

The former minister said funds used in the rice-pledging scheme came from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, as with loans guaranteed by the Finance Ministry, while the government at the time ensured that working funds used in the scheme did not exceed Bt500 billion.

Asked why the Yingluck government did not suspend the scheme after receiving repeated warnings from anti-graft authorities, he said the arguments used in these official warnings were based on problems of previous rice-pledging schemes.

And he said, the government was told the scheme was economically worthwhile – the National Economic and Social Development Board at the time had insisted farmers would be better off as a result of the scheme.

Kittiratt told the court there were significant sales of rice bought from farmers under the scheme and he was confident the government would have been able to empty its inventory if there had been no coup in 2014.

On the role of Yingluck in the procedure, Kittiratt said, the former premier, who was chairman of the National Rice Policy Committee, had told members of the committee to implement the scheme with transparency.

Liability claim postponed

Meanwhile, Yingluck said there was now a 30-day postponement on the Central Administrative Court’s hearing on her request seeking an injunction against the Prayut govern-ment’s executive order to confiscate her assets in a civil liability concerning alleged wrongdoing in the rice-pledging scheme.

In this separate civil liability claim, the Prayut government is seeking Bt35 billion in compensation from Yingluck due to the huge losses that were incurred by the rice-pledging scheme.

But the former premier has argued that criminal and other related cases are still pending in court so the civil liability case should not proceed at this stage.

Critics said this could be a “political joke” that would do nothing but raise public fears.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said his government had started searching for the perpetrators who issued online threats against him and General Prawit Wongsuwan, his deputy and defence minister.

Prayut said that the alleged assassination plot was inspired by certain anti-monarchy Thai expatriates now living overseas.

“They’re [active] in social media and we’re searching for them,” the premier said. “They need to be asked where they obtained that information from.”

The alleged online threats have caused a media sensation since Thursday, as Prawit brought the issue up himself. “I heard of the threats but I don’t know who did it,” the deputy said. “I don’t even know if that’s really true.”

But Army Commander-in-chief General Chalermchai Sitthisart confirmed later on Thursday that the threats were true while ensuring that security measures would remain tight as usual.

Pheu Thai Party key figure and ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra and Democrat Party politician Watchara Petchthong responded by labelling Prayut and Prawit oversensitive given the alleged threats were made via social media and given the duo’s powerful positions.

Their insecurity could alarm Thais and hurt foreigners’ trust in Thailand, the politicians’ said.

“This kind of issue should instead be kept confidential,” Watchara said. “Determined to dedicate themselves to the country, they [Prayut and Prawit] should rather ensure people that this society is safe from dark influence,” he added.

Political analyst and orator Sukhum Nuansakul believe that the junta might want to raise such an issue to demonstrate to the public the hardships facing the country’s administrations.

“If the threats are really serious, they shouldn’t be spoken about,” he said.

Police are investigating the alleged threats as well as cooperating with domestic and international security agencies on the matter, according to deputy police spokesperson Colonel Krisana Pattanacharoen.

Krisana did not disclose details of the investigation including the possibility, according to an Army source, that one of the alleged perpetrators could be a shop owner in a famous department store.

The defence minister’s security adviser Panitan Wattanayagorn said that it was not unusual for the country’s top figurers to be threatened and security staff evaluated the seriousness of any threat.

He said that people expected a smooth election following the junta’s roadmap. “We are also working on reconciliation,” he said. “If these things affect any dissenter, action may be taken accordingly,” he added.

However, the adviser said no such connection had been seen.New security measures would also need to be introduced given to political conflicts in past years, he added.

Visitors from the three Asean countries, and 46 other nations, now need to apply for a tourist visa if they make more than two trips to Thailand via land transport. However, tourists who arrive by air or boat can still enjoy the visa-free trips for up to 30 days at a time.

“This is a worrying inconvenience,” Songkhla Tourism Industry Council chairman Surapol Kampalanonwat said yesterday.

“In the past, these visitors could come whenever they liked, without having to worry about a visa. But now Thailand has restricted their visa-free trips to just two a year if they come by land.”

Songkhla welcomed almost three million tourists from Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei via its land-based checkpoint in 2015, bringing in more than Bt1.6 billion.

The Interior Ministry’s new visa regulations took effect on December 31.

“I should point out that more than 90 per cent of tourists from Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei travel to Songkhla by car and bus,” Surapol said.

He said there is just one daily flight between Songkhla’s Hat Yai and Singapore. There are no direct flights from Indonesia and Brunei to Songkhla.

The number of Indonesian visitors to Songkhla has risen over the past few years. Tourism-related businesses in the border province are urging the ministry to review the visa rule, having submitted an official request via Songakhla’s governor last month.