ASSETS SCRUTINY PANEL DIGIT LOTTERY INVESTIGATION : Varathep insists lottery is legal.
AMPA SANTIMATANEDOL WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI
Former deputy finance minister Varathep Ratanakorn defended the legitimacy of the two-digit and three-digit lottery before Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC) investigators yesterday. Mr Varathep insisted the previous government acted within the law in authorising the new lottery and had no intention of harming the country.
He also denied it was plagued with corruption.
The ASC and the National Counter Corruption Commission are looking into alleged abuse of executive authority by the Thaksin government, which gave the Government Lottery Office (GLO) approval to launch the lottery in 2003.
Mr Varathep said the past government acted in good faith with the aim of cracking down on underground bookmakers and injecting the profits into charities.
Public hearings on the digit lottery scheme had been held and the Council of State's opinions sought before the proposal was submitted for the cabinet's endorsement, he said.
''The Council of State then ruled that the programme did not breach the GLO Act and conformed with the Gambling Act,'' he said.
The council surely would have raised an objection during the three years the lottery operated if it found it illegal, Mr Varathep maintained.
However, the Council of State in November issued another ruling which found the GLO had no legal authority to operate the two- and three-digit lottery.
Udom Fuangfung, who heads the ASC inquiry team, said former finance permanent secretary Somchainuk Engtrakul and finance permanent secretary Suparut Kawatkul would be invited for questioning.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula said that Viroj Laohaphan, who heads the ASC's Shin Corp inquiry panel, yesterday confirmed that Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra, children of Mr Thaksin, were liable to pay income tax on the Ample Rich share deal.
Bangkok Post
Friday January 12, 2007
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