Statement by Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck regarding the impeachment charges being brought against her by the NACC:

In consideration of the fact that the allegations made against me by both the opposition party and the NACC regarding the ice Pledging Scheme! e"en though according to the Constitution the members of the NACC ha"e the duty to act ob#ecti"ely $hen considering such a case! and gi"en that the members of the NACC by implication %as a party $hich has made said allegations& can no longer act impartially $hile ruling on this case! I $ish to submit the follo$ing obser"ations: '( As it is set forth in the Constitution! the stipulation that proceeding $ith in"estigations of this kind must be based on the rule of la$ and $ithout any unnecessary delay applies to e"ery group! including for those $ho hold the position of political e)ecuti"e! unless specified due to special circumstances( Thus $hen considering other cases in the past $hen past political e)ecuti"e ha"e been accused! there has normally been the established of in"estigati"e sub*committees first before hearings( +o$e"er progress has not been made in any of the cases made against the pre"ious go"ernment: such as the case for causing causalities and in#uries to citi,ens $hile dispersing protests in -.'.! as $ell as other corruption cases that $ere filed against the go"ernment that same year( -( According to the accusations that ha"e been filed against me! $hich ha"e only taken -' days to prepare and file %including a substantial number of corruption allegations $hich re/uire detailed e"idence and supporti"e data&! and gi"en that it is a Constitutional right for those being accused to be treated fairly and gi"en e/ual access to e)amine the e"idence used against them! $hich in the end ser"es only to add credibility to the e"idence used by prosecuting party or in this case the NACC0 I ha"e no alternati"e but to conclude that as far as the e)amination of e"idence and $itness in this case is concerned! I ha"e not been treated e/uitably or recei"ed any #ustice( 1( 2n the charges of negligence of duty in the rice pledging scheme that I ha"e been accused of! there are a large number of $itnesses and documents that need to be collected from many different agencies( These documents and $itnesses are "ital for my defense of the case( +o$e"er! the agencies that I need to ac/uire the documents could not produce and release the documents in time( Therefore! I asked my la$yers to liaise $ith the NACC to re/uest for the postponement of the date in $hich I ha"e to defend the case for another 34 days in addition to the '4 days that ha"e been gi"en( 5ut my re/uest for the postponement $as re#ected by the NACC and not e"en one day e)tension $as gi"en! on the other hand the NACC claimed that it had o"er a year to e)amine the documents to press ahead $ith the charges against

me( It seems to me like a denial of #ustice by the NACC( As I am the Prime Minister! the public $ill need to be fully informed of all details of the legal case related to me( The public $ill also need to be informed of e"idence and substance of both sides( The NACC! $hich is not the intermediary to the case! but the NACC and I are in fact the opposing parties in this case( Therefore! the case should proceed in a fair manner and according to due process! $hereby each of the parties should refrain from accusing other parties of $rongdoing out of the boundaries of legal procedure( It $ould be a good e)ample $hether the stakeholders conduct their act in accordance to the rule of la$ and due process( The NACC also suggested that by not attending the hearing of the legal charges in person! it is not possible for me to understand the details of the case( This is incorrect as I can e)amine the accusation through the $ritten documents( The documents that $ere used to file accusations against myself also included the inter"ie$ by Mr( 6icha Mahakhun! gi"en to the Than Sethakit ne$spaper! $hich mentioned that I ha"e to take the responsibility in the rice pledging scheme( I should ha"e been gi"en access to necessary documents so that I can be able to present my side of the case more accurately( The NACC denied my re/uest! suggesting that it is an important document and could affect the legal procedure( This should be seen as infringing my basic rights of a Thai citi,en as stipulated in the constitution( The documents that I $as initially gi"en $as only 37 pages long and last Thursday I $as gi"en additional -8. pages( This means that I $ill only ha"e 1 days to e)amine the additional -8. pages before I must defend my case on Monday(