Thai PM testifies against negligence charges

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra testified yesterday in front of anti-graft officials over negligence charges that could lead to her removal from office and a ban from politics.
Yingluck arrived at the National Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangkok yesterday but made no comment to the media as she entered the building or as she left 10 minutes later, an AFP reporter said.
She was summoned to answer charges linked to a controversial rice subsidy scheme, which paid farmers above market rates for their crops.
Observers say that after months of street protests, the kingdom's political crisis is lurching towards a critical new phase, with the NACC appearing set to move against the embattled premier.
"The prime minister gave verbal and written testimony... she asked the NACC to question 10 more witnesses and give more time for her lawyers to submit more evidence," commission member Prasart Pongsivapai told reporters.
"We will discuss both of these requests tomorrow... we are glad that she came, the atmosphere was good," he added.
If indicted by the anti-graft agency, the prime minister would be immediately suspended from office pending an impeachment vote in the upper house of parliament within weeks.
But Prasart refused to be drawn on a possible timeframe for the NAAC's response and denied accusations that the commission had sped up the process to assist the anti-government movement on Bangkok's streets.
The issue has become a lightning rod for Yingluck's political opponents who have massed on Bangkok's streets for months in a bid to topple her government.
Yingluck has protested her innocence, but if she is found guilty faces a possible five-year ban from politics, as well as imprisonment by the courts on criminal charges.