Bangkok, NACC explains the issue of filing an amendment to the NACC Act to allow victims to sue again in court. Carrying out the workload of prosecutors, the court revealed a total of more than 15,000 cases. Mr. Niwatchai Kasemmongkol, Secretary-General of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), spoke about the case of the Pheu Thai Party requesting withdrawal of the proposed amendment. Prevention and Suppression of Corruption Act Leaving the joint parliamentary meeting on February 16, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) went to explain its intentions to the coalition coordination committee (government whip) of the intent of the said law, stating that the 1997 Constitution stipulated that The NACC is responsible for collecting evidence and submitting it to the Attorney General. To submit a lawsuit to the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions. Take action against corrupt politicians It shows the basic intention to prevent victims or citizens from directl y suing political office holders. To prevent this, if there is a direct lawsuit, the Prime Minister and ministers may be constantly sued. And the factual evidence that the victim must collect is a burden. Therefore, there is an organization to collect evidence in part before submitting to court. Meanwhile, the 2007 Constitution has additional amendments to allow victims to submit lawsuits to the Supreme Court. But a committee must be set up to screen and collect evidence from the injured party or the complainant. before sending it to the court for decision Therefore, the principle The process thus indicates that the Constitution does not intend for victims to directly file lawsuits. But you must go through the process first. Because the offenses of political office holders are offenses against the state. Position The person who is really hurt is the state because the perpetrators are government officials. Mr. Niwatchai said that regarding the transitional provisions that will be retrospective in cases that t he NACC did not accept or were missed, victims can consider filing retroactive lawsuits directly, which there are almost 15,000 cases, so it must be seen whether the cases will be revived. Come back or not? Or have the Attorney General be the one to screen the case again in cases that the NACC does not accept or orders to be dropped. But we have to see whether the prosecutor can accept it or not. This is a concern that we have clarified. However, in principle, there were many agencies giving opinions, including decrees, prosecutors, and courts, with some opinions being consistent. Therefore, we will go back and review it first so that the enactment of the law will be prudent. Otherwise, if the law has been issued It will affect both those considering and legislation Therefore, it is good that the government listens to the opinions of relevant agencies. When asked about the conflict Has the NACC looked at that as well? Mr. Niwatchai said that we looked at many things because retrospective laws can be done bec ause they are not retroactive in a way that is harmful. But there is something worth thinking about. It's like a never-ending lawsuit. Another part is that we look at the accused who has already been investigated. But the case was revived again on the same matter. It is an endless and repetitive investigation. But it may not be a repeat complaint. Because this matter has not yet entered the court's consideration process. So in principle it can be done. But when we look at the quantity and screening process The injured person will already take the case from the NACC. When the NACC deems that it has no basis, it will be dropped and the case will go to the court itself. You have to go find additional facts yourself. Really, this matter does not affect the NACC. The NACC would be happy if it gave victims the right to file a lawsuit. But there should be a screening process. or has a supporting process Because we saw that It would be a burden on both prosecutors and the courts to have to consider many of these retr ospective cases. Maybe add more personnel to the prosecutors and the court or not because there are more than tens of thousands of cases. Even though the matter in the hands of the prosecutor is about corruption. Even the matters that the NACC has sent to consider in many frameworks, many issues, more than a hundred matters at hand. Source: Thai News Agency