Energy minister General Anantaporn Kanjanarat said yesterday that the committee could include opponents to the bill, assuring an impartial study.

The comprehensive study could be competed within 60 days, he said. Previously the National Energy Policy Council had assigned the Finance Ministry to look into the establishment of the NOC, he said.

However, the future of the NOC is less than certain.

After facing opposition from the business community and prominent figures, section 10/1 NOC was scrapped from the bill. However, it was annexed to the end of the bill, meaning the government has no obligation to create it.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that the Cabinet would decide whether or not an NOC would be set up.

If the Cabinet decides to goes ahead, Wissanu said there might be a separate law or new amendment to the Petroleum Bill to provide a legal framework for the NOC.

Meanwhile, Veerasak Pungrassamee, director-general of the Mineral Fuels, said the department would conduct the study to determine the best method to be used for the next auction of petroleum exploitations. There are three options: concession, production sharing contract and service contract.

He said the new terms of reference (ToR) would be finished by the end of April and the auction would be held after the ministry issues organic laws in line with the Petroleum Bill.

The existing concessions for both Erawan and Bongkot fields, which account for a combined 70 per cent of the countries oil and natural gas reserve, are due to expire in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

At the same time, Kamolphan Cheewaphansri, one of the key leaders of the People’s Network for Thailand Energy Reform, who support the NOC but oppose the Petroleum Bill, yesterday vowed to continue the fight to establish the NOC.

The NOC is considered to be an effective mechanism to protect national energy resources, according to the group. Their stance is strongly opposed by the business community and former deputy prime minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula.

In a related development, another key bill is a Petroleum Income Tax Bill, which was also passed by the NLA on Thursday. The Finance Ministry will supervise tax collection from oil companies awarded exploitation contracts.

The Finance Ministry aims to close a loophole by imposing stringent rules on business operations between a parent company based abroad and its subsidiary in Thailand.

The new rules are expected to help the Revenue Department collect more petroleum income tax as they have the potential to prevent transfer pricing. This involves a parent company charging unreasonably high costs, such as rent of an oil rig from its subsidiary to deflate its profits, said Prapas Kong-Ied, deputy permanent secretary of the Finance Ministry.

Currently, petroleum income tax is 30 per cent on top of profit, compared to 20 per cent on corporate income tax for other types of businesses and industries.

WHILE THE whereabouts of fugitive former abbot Phra Dhammachayo is still unknown, authorities have taken control of the controversial Dhammakaya Temple and have begun scrutinising its operations and monks’ activities, officials said yesterday.

The Sangha Supreme Council (SSC) on Thursday set up two panels – comprising representatives from provincial officials, police and the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) – to manage the temple, according to Booncherd Kittitharangkoon, director of the Office of the Secretary-General of the SSC.

The panels, headed by Ecclesiastical Region 1 chief Phra Thepsuthee and Pathum Thani monk chief Phra Theprattana-suthee, will oversee and provide guidance and instruction to Dhammakaya’s acting abbot to maintain the daily operations of the temple and maintain law and order.

Buddhism Office director-general Pongporn Parmsneh said the SSC had also acknowledged the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) had proposed a nine-point plan to solve the Dhammakaya problem to the Justice Ministry recently, which would eventually be forwarded to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

The plan, which has not yet been approved by the government, included a request for the junta leader to lift a special order under Article 44, which authorised the DSI and security officials to search for Dhammachayo last month.

As the order under Article 44 is still in effect, the temple and the surrounding Klong Luang district are still a specially controlled area, according to DSI chief Pasit Wongmuang.

He said DSI officers were making reports on the impounded temple buildings and items, adding that a hyperbaric chamber would be sent back to the lender, Yanhee Hospital.

Pongporn said the DSI’s nine-point proposal calls for a joint operation centre for peace and order to be set up at the temple to ensure activities are done in accordance with Dhammavinaya (disciplines) and the law, and also gather information about Dhammachayo.

As part of the proposal, the Interior Ministry would be assigned to probe the Dhammakaya Temple Foundation to determine if any illegalities had been committed, and the Finance Ministry would inspect its financial situation including tax payments, he said.

The Buddhism Office would establish a committee to check if the temple’s teachings and propagation methods went against the Dhammavinaya, he added.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society would be assigned to monitor any online messages of incitement, Pongporn said. As well, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission would block or cancel the satellite TV broadcasting operations of the Dhammakaya Media Channel until concrete solutions were implemented.

Next week, probes into three monks under the Dhammakaya network, who allegedly used donation money to buy properties, would also be launched, Pol Lt-Colonel Pakorn Suchiwakul, director of the DSI financial and banking division said yesterday.

The agency summoned the monks, whose names appeared on donation cheques from the former chairman of the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative Supachai Srisuppa-aksorn, who is currently in jail for embezzlement, to testify to DSI investigators on April 3-5.

The monks, each of whom reportedly received Bt60-70 million in donation money, were Phra Khru Palad Wijarn Theerangkuro who built a youth centre in Lop Buri; Phra Wirat Thitarattano who built a meditation centre in Phichit; and Phra Prayoon who bought two plots of land covering 27 rai in Chumphon.

Prosecutors have also indicted five Dhammakaya monks for resisting the junta order. According to temple lawyer Panya Thawornakaranin, they are Phra Maha Nopporn Punyachayo; Phra Khru Thawalsak Yatisako; Phra Pasura Dantamano, Phra Khru Suwit Suwichako and Phra Khru Sangkharak Sotathiko. Panya yesterday brought Phra Maha Nopporn and seven other monks to Thanyaburi Court to sign the acknowledgement document relating to the charges.

STARTING FROM today, emergency patients can go to any hospital for 72 hours free emergency treatment, the Public Health Ministry has announced.

Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn said yesterday that the ministry has launched the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) policy.

Piyasakol said that to cover the medical bill for the first 72 hours, the ministry has consulted with all relevant agencies and private hospitals to set up a rate for emergency treatment costing more than Bt3,000. The hospital can draw money from the medical scheme that the patient is registered to.

“People do not have to worry. If their illness is urgent, they can go to any hospital and receive free treatment for the first 72 hours, and then they will be transferred to the hospital that they registered with for treatment on their own scheme, or they can stay at the private hospital at their own expense,” he said.

The Public Health Minister also said that the ministry has arranged with public hospitals to prepare the room for emergency patients. He added that any private hospital that refuses to take care of emergency patients for free in the first 72 hours will be punished by law.

Air Vice Marshal Chalermporn Boonsiri, head of Thai College of Emergency Physicians, said that information will be placed in front of the emergency section of each hospital to clarify the definition of an emergency illness.

Chalermporn said that the National Institute for Emergency Medicine will rule on any dispute over what kind of illness can be considered an emergency.

Private Hospital Association president Dr Pongphat Patanavanich said private hospitals are ready to take care of emergency patients for free.

He stressed, however, that patients who decide to continue treatment at private hospitals beyond the first 72 hours will have to pay the exceeding medical bill by themselves.

Thai Medical Error Network director Preeyanan Lorsermvattana said that she was glad the Public Health Ministry had arrived at the policy and said authorities had made the right decision to solve the problems of emergency medical care.

“One of the good things in this policy is that there are punishments for private hospitals if they turn down an emergency patient. Moreover, there is a system to seek room for the transferred patients after receiving emergency treatment for 72 hours,” Preeyanan said.

“I have to thank all the people who are behind this progress. From now on, we are letting the system work and we will monitor for any problems that may occur.”

She added that Thailand still did not have enough emergency physicians and it was important that everyone should take good care of their health so they will not become an emergency patient.

This policy has been made legal on the auxiliary regulations, which were effective on April 1 onward.

Narathiwat police deputy chief Colonel Rathboworn Bamrungros said yesterday that the 20 sympathisers were divided into three teams.

He said the members of one team were disguised as soldiers at a phoney checkpoint in Sukhirin, where they stole a Toyota pickup for use in the attack.

He said members of another team were dressed like construction workers and they sat in the back of the pickup and opened fire at the police station, while the final team drove the shooters. DNA samples and fingerprints were collected from the pickup, found abandoned at a rubber plantation in tambon Tanyong Limo, Rangae, on Thursday night, the colonel said.

The investigation would focus on persons wanted for the fatal shooting of Tambon Romthai Administrative Organisation secretary Boonlert Jindathananant on December 29, 2015, as police believed the same group was involved in both attacks.

Fourth Army Region deputy chief Maj-General Kuakul Innajak, meanwhile, inspected Rangae police station yesterday and received a report on the investigation’s progress.

Kuakula praised the bravery of Pol Corporal Pulsawat Sathien-udon, who returned fire at the assailants, and said the officer should be promoted.

Kuakul also visited three of the wounded – Staff Sergeant Ekkawit Thongbutr at Rangae Hospital and Sgt-Major Theerapong Kaewchamnan and Corporal Pongsathorn Kaewprasert at Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital. On Thursday morning, six attackers riding in the back of the pickup opened fire at the police station when police were standing in line in front of the station to hear a policy address from Rangae police superintendent Colonel Surapong Chatsut. Corporal Supaksorn Sayukhongthon, 30, was pronounced dead at hospital.

Surapong received a superficial ear wound, while Corporal Pichit Thongros was treated at Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Centre’s hospital.

Meanwhile, national security officers in the southern border province of Pattani have implemented stricter controls in setting up checkpoints to look for stolen vehicles in a bid to prevent attacks by insurgents.

AFTER MONTHS of political seclusion, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday broke his silence to deny allegations that he was behind many deadly attacks in Thailand as well as threats to the country and the monarchy.

Thaksin also asked to be “omitted from the equation” in the ongoing effort to achieve national reconciliation.

“I don’t want anyone to make any proposal to help me,” he said in his Facebook message. But the ex-PM also said that the people in power should not attempt to single him out by applying laws unfairly against him.

Thaksin pointed to the move by the Revenue Department to seek Bt17 billion in back-taxes from him for the sale in 2006 of his family’s shares in Shin Corp worth Bt73 billion.

“I have already stopped. What about you? When will you stop?” Thaksin said in his Facebook message. “Do not love the nation and the monarchy institution with your words only,” he added.

Thaksin said that he had often been blamed for high-profile incidents such as the 2015 bombing at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok and deadly explosions in the deep South.

“This time I have to speak out. There have been attempts to create an image that I am connected to the movement that aims to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. This is unacceptable to me,” Thaksin said. He maintained he has been loyal to the monarchy and firmly believes in the country’s current political system.

More than 16,000 people reacted to his message with “Like”, “Love” and “Wow” emoticons. His supporters also commented in praise of what they described as his achievements while in power. Many said they missed him and were waiting for his return to Thailand.

Thaksin fled the country in 2008 just before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced him in absentia to two years in jail for abuse of power. In 2010, the same court ordered the seizure of Bt46 billion of his assets found to have been earned dishonestly while in office.

The former premier yesterday blamed military coups for the fact that he has had to live in self-imposed exile overseas for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday that red-shirts would not be allowed to mark the seventh anniversary of a violent crackdown on protesters in April 2010, as the event would be political in nature and the country still in a state of mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in October.

“Such an event would just lead to more conflicts,” said Prawit, who is also defence minister.

Prawit said that even the Loi Krathong festival, held a month after the late King’s death, was celebrated modestly.

Since the post-coup government came to power, relatives of the 2010 victims have held commemorative events under the watchful eye of police, to express their grievance and ask for the culprits to be found.

Key red-shirt figure Weng Tojirakarn told The Nation that the government had not yet contacted his group but they would cooperate by cancelling the event. He said that plans for any alternative events were still being discussed.

In response to Prawit’s comparison, Weng said that while Loi Krathong usually involves floating flowery baskets on rivers and cheerful celebrations, the incident on April 10, 2010, is another matter.

Twenty-one civilians, including a Japanese journalist, and five military officers lost their lives during the 2010 clashes between security forces and red-shirt protesters, who were calling for the then-Democrat government to step down and hold elections. More than 800 people were also injured in the clashes.

Altogether, at least 90 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during the political unrest that year.

The 14 wounded students – who were rushed to the Siriraj and Taksin hospitals – were among 60 blind students who were learning massage at the National Centre for the Blind building in Soi Charansanidwong 11 when the ceiling collapse occurred at 3.30pm, according to massage instructor Jidapa Srikrajang.

Bangkok Noi police station superintendant Pol Colonel Jarupat Thongkomon said police was investigating the cause of the ceiling’s collapse.

The court ruled that no sufficient evidence was found to support the case of the plaintiffs against the co-defendants.

It issued its verdict on Monday. The written version of the court ruling was released yesterday.

NMG owns The Nation newspaper.

The lawsuit was filed by public prosecutors and Prathum Ruangsud, who claimed to represent 31 NMG shareholders holding 402.5 million shares in the company.

The nine defendants were former NMG chairman Nittimon Hastindra na Ayudhya, board members Suthichai Yoon, Pakorn Borimasporn, Chaveng Chariyapisuthi, Adisak Limprungpatanakit, Kaemakorn Vachiravarakarn, Pana Janviroj, Duangkamol Chotana and Sermsin Samalapa.

They included:  972.69 kilograms of marijuana; 1,578,231 yaba pills; 621.52 grams of crystal methamphetamine or ‘ice’ and 7.02 kilograms of heroin.

The Tambon Khanchong Adminsitrative Organisation has joined with private business operators to launch the “Kaeng San Takhien” section with dozens of wooden bangalows overlooking the dam for tourists.