Justice Ministry marshals bureau to be disbanded

DUE TO a lack of clear responsibilities and the absence of regulations accommodating its establishment during the Abhisit government, the Justice Ministry’s marshals unit is being disbanded. 

The decision by the Justice Ministry was officially approved yesterday.

The 66 staff members will be reassigned to other law-enforcement agencies, as well as to the ministry offices around the country, deputy permanent secretary Thawatchai Thaikheo said at a press conference.

Apart from an initial objective to provide security at courthouses following frequent incidents of violence by criminal defendants during trials, the marshals unit was set up in 2011 also with the politically motivated purpose of tracking down and apprehending several politicians on the run, including former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thawatchai said the actual dissolution of the marshals unit – dubbed the Thai Marshals Bureau – would be implemented after amendments to the ministry regulations were completed.

 

Staff to be transferred

Ten staffers will be transferred to the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, another 10 to the ministry’s Justice Fund, eight to the Office of the Public Sector |Anti-Corruption Commission and one to the ministry’s secretariat office. 

The remaining staff members will be stationed at the ministry’s new provincial offices.

The agencies earmarked to accept the marshals will meet with the ministry on March 12, under an agreement that they would enrol these people before seeking personnel through job openings.

A ministry source said some of the marshals were unhappy that their requests for transfer to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) had not been considered, while many said they did not want to be transferred to distant provincial offices. 

A number of marshals are said to be considering filing petitions to the Central Administrative Court, while many of them have reportedly complained about those close to ministry executives being given positions they preferred.

In a meeting on December 29, permanent secretary Police General Chatchawal Suksomjit reportedly told the marshals that the transfer of one marshal to the DSI would mean that another would have to be discharged.

This is due to a Justice Ministry pay scale that gives DSI agents twice as much in remuneration as similar-level officials in other departments under the ministry, he is said to have explained to them.