1st Day of defence witnesses

The first witnesses for the defence occurred on the same day as the final witnesses for the prosecution. The defence called 2 witnesses, Pannee Sathawaroedom (นางพรรณี สถาวโรดม) and an unnamed representative of the Comptroller-General's Department.







The first witness, Pannee, who is the Director General of fiscal policy at the Bank of Thailand, and also on the board at the FIDF, described the function of the FIDF board, how it was formed, what the roll of the Finance Ministry was in regard to setting up the board, and the independance of the FIDF board.

The second witness,(doesn't appear to be named, but is stated as being a representative of the Comptroller-General's Department.) also testified about the operations of the FIDF and the roll of the executive board, and the roll that the Ministry of Finance have in appointing representatives to the executive board as stipulated in the Bank of Thailand Act.

Former deputy finance minister in the Thaksin government Varathep Ratanakorn and a representative of the Budget Bureau had been scheduled to testify for Mr Thaksin and Khunying Pojaman yesterday. However, defence lawyers told the court that Mr Varathep was tied up with other business and was unable to turn up at court, and the defence asked that the testimony be re-scheduled.

The trial was scheduled to continue with witnesses for the defence on Tuesday 5th August. The defence council also made a statement the he was expecting Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra to testify to the court on 22nd August or soon after.