The Supreme Court has set March 19 to decide whether to accept for further proceedings the Office of the Attorney-General's indictment of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra over her government's rice-pledging scheme, the court announced on Thursday.
Teerathai Charoenwong, secretary of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, made the announcement after the OAG filed the indictment, accompanied by 20 boxes of documents, with the court. Ms Yingluck was not present.
Mr Teerathai said the court would announce on March 19 whether to accept the indictment for further proceedings.
Earlier on Thursday, Norrawit Lalaeng, leader of Ms Yingluck's team of lawyers, submitted a letter notifying the attorney general that the former prime minister would report to the Supreme Court after it has accepted the case for trial.
Ms Yingluck was at this stage still only a suspect in a criminal suit, so she was not required to show up at the court today, Mr Norrawit said.
The lawyer said that after receiving the indictment the Supreme Court president was expected to call a plenary session to select a panel of nine judges to handle the case.
The selected panel would then examine the indictment to decide whether to accept it for further hearing.
If the panel decided to proceed with the case, Ms Yingluck would report to the court to enter the judicial process, Mr Norrawit said.
To ensure justice under the constitution the former prime minister would seek full disclosure, asking the court for permission to examine the indictment and related documents.
The lawyer said Ms Yingluck was confident she had sufficient evidence to successfully defend the charges brought against her by the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the OAG.
On the NACC's resolution that the Finance Ministry file a civil suit to demand compensation from Ms Yingluck, Mr Norrawit said his legal team would next week submit a letter to the ministry to counter the NACC's allegations.