Review of post-coup AEC cases proposed
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King Prajadhipok's Institute has come up with reconciliation proposals that include a retrial of court cases originated by the post-coup Assets Examination Committee and the voiding of all legal impacts of the cases already ruled on by the court.
In its report to the House committee on national reconciliation, the institute – an independent academic organisation under Parliament – proffered three options to “build confidence in the justice system”.
The first option is to shift all the cases investigated by the AEC to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and let the existing justice process run its course, without impact on cases that have been ruled on by the court. This is the present situation.
The second option is to cancel all the legal impacts of the cases initiated by the AEC, and to shift the cases to the normal justice process, with no statute of limitations enforced.
The third option is to expunge all the legal impacts of the cases initiated by the AEC – both the complete and incomplete cases.
Democrat MP Nakhon Machim, a committee member, said yesterday that the retrial and expunging would only disturb the system and revive the political conflict.
The AEC was appointed by the coup-makers, led by then Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who were in power after toppling the government of Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2006.
The committee’s members discussed the matter in depth, Nakhon said.
Piphob Thongchai, a leader of the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy, expressed agreement with the first option, saying it was something being implemented, but cautioned against the second option.
“Who is going to revive the cases – the police, prosecutors, or someone else? If you base your cases on the findings of the AEC, it means you choose the first option,” he said.
He was totally against the third option, which he sees as tantamount to pardoning fugitive Thaksin.
The AEC was assigned to investigate allegations of corruption against members of the Thaksin cabinet. Its findings led to court rulings against Thaksin – two years’ imprisonment for abuse of power – and the confiscation of more than Bt40 billion of his assets for being unusually wealthy.
Sonthi, the ex-coup leader, is now an MP and chairman of the House committee on national reconciliation, which assigned the institute to study proposals for political reconciliation.
The institute conducted in-depth interviews with 47 people including politicians and activists involved in the political conflict, such as Thaksin, ex-premier and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, red-shirt leaders and yellow-shirt leaders.
Sonthi said his panel would base its proposals for reconciliation on the institute’s report.
Thaksin, addressing a recent red-shirt rally from overseas, said he wanted Parliament to focus on the reconciliation measures. He said Sonthi was involving himself with reconciliation because the coup was a failure.
Some observers said Thaksin appeared to be using Sonthi’s committee to work in a way that would benefit him. However, Nakhon said he did not think so.
One interesting conclusion of the institute was that the conflict was caused by a concentration of power and the abuse of political power for personal gain.
The report also proposed the establishment of a national reconciliation committee that included the prime minister, opposition leader and Parliament president.
