‘Thaksin won’t flee again,’ says PM

Srettha confident Pheu Thai godfather is ready to fight lese-majeste case

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will not attempt to flee the country again in order to escape a lese-majeste case that has been brought against him, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday.

“I met with Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the leader of the Pheu Thai Party, this morning. I asked about her father. She said he is fine,” Mr Srettha said.

“I am confident he will not leave the country. I think he is ready to fight [the lese majeste case]. He was in exile abroad for 17 years. That’s long enough. Today, he has already entered the justice system. This is another hurdle [for him], so he has to deal with it.

“I cannot speak on his behalf. But I don’t think he is going anywhere.”

Concerns have mounted as Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008, shortly before the Supreme Court convicted him for helping his then-wife Khunying Potjaman Na Pombejra buy prime land in the Ratchadaphisek area at a discount while he was prime minister.

He returned to Thailand in August last year and was sentenced to eight years in prison — later reduced to one year on a royal pardon — for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while in office from 2001-06. He never spent a single night behind bars and was granted parole after spending six months at the Police General Hospital.

On May 29, the attorney general indicted Thaksin on royal defamation and computer crime charges arising from an interview given to a newspaper in Seoul on Feb 21, 2015.

The computer crime charge stems from Thaksin putting information into a computer system that was deemed a threat to national security, according to Prayut Phetcharakhun, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

However, public prosecutors could not arraign Thaksin as planned on May 29 because his lawyer said he had Covid-19 and needed to rest.

Mr Prayut said prosecutors have ordered the former prime minister to appear at the OAG at 9am on June 18 so the indictment process can begin.

Thaksin was alleged to have defamed the monarchy while speaking with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper, when he claimed privy councillors supported the 2014 coup that ousted the government of his younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Police claimed the comments violated Section 112 of the Criminal Code, also known as the lese-majeste law, as well as the Computer Crime Act.

Amnesty debate

In a related development, Defence Minister Sutin Klungsang said on Tuesday that an amnesty bill pushed by Pheu Thai would not cover a broad category of perpetrators.

The bill would grant a selective amnesty to certain groups of offenders, the Pheu Thai list-MP said, adding that the coalition-leading party must listen to opinions from all sectors.

He made the remarks after the party faced criticism for pushing the amnesty bill not long after Thaksin, widely seen as Pheu Thai’s de facto leader, was indicted under Section 112.

Some political observers said the bill was reminiscent of the last amnesty bid initiated by the Yingluck administration in 2013.

The 2013 bill was seen as a blanket amnesty and was criticised for broadly exonerating wrongdoers of political violence. It was seen as having the implicit aim of serving as a legal whitewash for Thaksin, then in self-exile.

The move triggered massive protests led by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee, which culminated in a military coup that ousted the Pheu Thai-led administration.

Chartthaipattana Party leader Varawut Silpa-archa, who serves as the Social Development and Human Security Minister, said on Tuesday that any amnesty proposal must exclude those who violated the lese-majeste law, and those who committed corruption and serious crimes.

Pheu Thai MP Cherdchai Tantisirin, who sits on the special House committee on political amnesty, said the bill was designed to benefit youth activists, many of whom have been detained pending trial on lese-majeste charges, and not Thaksin.