Ministry 'studying' Ombudsman's take on Thaksin passport issue
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The Foreign Ministry is studying the Office of the Ombudsman's recommendation that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's passport be revoked, and will handle the case in accordance with laws and regulations, permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeo
Thaksin’s passport re-emerged as a hot issue last week when the Ombudsman advised that the issuing of a Thai passport to the fugitive former premier, who fled a court verdict in 2008, was illegal. The Ombudsman recommended that the Foreign Ministry review its decision to issue the passport.
The ministry would reply to the Ombudsman once concerned agencies within the ministry have completed their study of the issue, Sihasak said.
“We will do everything in accordance with the laws and regulations,” he said.
Thaksin’s Thai passport was revoked by then foreign minister Kasit Piromya in April 2009. The current minister, Surapong Towichukchaikul, issued Thaksin a new one in October last year via the Thai Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Kasit revoked Thaksin’s regular passport under Article 23 (7) of the ministry’s regulations on the grounds that his stay abroad might hurt the country’s interests. Thaksin was accused of manipulating the red-shirt protests from overseas. Surapong revoked Kasit’s order and approved the issuance of a passport to Thaksin because his government did not consider the former premier’s activities abroad as a threat to the country.
Opposition Democrat MP Nipit Intarasombat of Phatthalung yesterday challenged Surapong to explain the legal basis for issuing a new passport to Thaksin, saying the minister had cited the same law as Kasit.
The previous Democrat Party-led government had no policy to issue a passport to any fugitive from prosecution, Nipit said. “It’s impossible to invoke the same clause [of the ministry’s regulations] to return a passport to Thaksin,” he said.
In view of the Ombudsman’s decision, Nipit said, Surapong had only one option: to revoke Thaksin’s passport, otherwise the minister could be prosecuted for violating Article 157 of the criminal code, which prescribes 20 years of imprisonment for officials who abuse their power.
Another Democrat MP, Wirat Kanlayasiri of Songkhla, said his party would take legal action against Surapong over the matter soon.
Thaksin’s legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said the Foreign Ministry had done nothing illegal. It was Kasit’s termination of Thaksin’s passport that was illegal, the adviser said, as the action was politically motivated.
The Ombudsman should consider the case neutrally, rather than taking sides with the Democrats, who have a strategy to hunt Thaksin, he said. The Ombudsman has no authority to instruct the Foreign Ministry to take or not take any action; rather, it can simply offer legal advice, he said. If such advice is wrong or illegal, the concerned agency has the right to reject it, Noppadon said.
