Prosecutors have postponed their decision on whether to indict prolific petitioner Srisuwan Janya, former red-shirt activist Yoswaris Chuklom and three others over the alleged extortion of the head of the Rice Department until Aug 28.
Senior prosecutor Rachata Phanomwan, head of the team handling the extortion case against Mr Srisuwan and his four alleged accomplices, notified the Office of the Attorney-General that the case was still under consideration and not yet completed, OAG spokesman Prayut Phetcharakhun said on Thursday.
The prosecution team decided to defer a decision on the case until Aug 28, Mr Prayut said.
On Thursday, Mr Srisuwan, Mr Yosawis, alias Jeng Dokjik, and the three alleged accomplices arrived at the OAG to hear the prosecutors' decision.
Mr Srisuwan said he did not yet know what charges he would be indicted on. He learned from media reports that he would face six charges, but police investigators said there were four charges.
He was told that a decision on the case had been postponed as the investigation team had just submitted the probe report to the prosecutors.
Mr Srisuwan and his wife, both suspects in the case, had to report to the OAG on Thursday as scheduled.
He said he and his wife were preparing to submit a letter seeking justice from the OAG because he had evidence to prove their innocence.
Over the past months, he had never consulted with the other suspects, especially Mr Yoswaris, whom he had only met once before. It was the first time in the past six months that he met Mr Yoswaris on Thursday. He had spent his time helping people who were in trouble, according to the high-profile petitioner.
Mr Srisuwan was arrested during a sting operation at his house in Pathum Thani on Jan 26, when 500,000 baht was delivered there by undercover police. Mr Yoswaris and the other suspects were later arrested.
The arrest followed a complaint lodged with Anti-Corruption Division (ACD) police by Natthakit Khongthip, director-general of the Rice Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
According to the complaint, Mr Srisuwan and his co-accused - Mr Yoswaris and Mr Srisuwan's secretary Phimnattha Chiraphutthiphak - attempted to extort 3 million baht from Mr Natthakit or face falsified corruption charges. All denied the charges.
Ms Phimnattha was a former MP candidate for the Ruam Thai Sang Chart (United Thai Nation) Party, part of the governing coalition, while Mr Yoswaris, led the Ruam Chai Rak Chat (United Love for the Nation) movement and served on a civil service working group appointed by Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, the UTN leader.
Mr Yoswaris said he received information that he would be indicted on six counts. He had asked his lawyer to submit a petition seeking justice from prosecutors. He insisted he was innocent and expressed confidence in the evidence he had to fight the case.
All suspects were temporarily released after the prosecutors found no circumstances suggesting they would flee. All were asked to report to the prosecutors on Aug 28.
Earlier, the Crime Suppression Division submitted the investigation report against the five suspects to the prosecutors on July 16. During the police interrogation, all were released.
