The nine who hold the key to Yingluck's future

Scrutinising the backgrounds of the nine judges selected last Tuesday to hear the case, gives an idea of what the future may hold for Yingluck.

The judges were named after voting by 146 Supreme Court judges.

Yingluck has already been suspended from politics for five years after the National Legislative Assembly impeached her over her failure to stop corruption and massive losses in the rice-pledging scheme.

But after the Office of the Attorney-General took her case to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holder last week for criminal offences in connection with the rice scheme, Yingluck could now face a criminal trial that has a maximum penalty of 10 years if the nine-judge panel decides to accept the case and finds her guilty. 

Her future is in their hands, unless she opts to follow her brother, former PM Thaksin, by fleeing into exile. But Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has already warned she would not be happy if she runs away from justice.

More than half the nine selected judges has been picked to hear other cases linked to the Thaksin camp. If Yingluck wants to file an objection to the selection of judges, she must do it before the trial starts, unless she can offer valid reasons to justify not doing it earlier. The final decision on whether objections are valid will rest with the judges.

The voting last Tuesday saw the following nine judges get the most support:

Salaiket Wattanapan, chairman of the Supreme Court’s Tax Division, received the most votes. He started his career as an official at the Justice Ministry’s Department of Probation before passing the exams to become a judge. Salaiket earned a reputation as an honest judge who rose through the ranks of the Supreme Court.

Wirun Saengthian, the Court’s Commerce and Economic Division chairman, served as chief justice before rising to this position in 2013.

Thanarerk Nitiseranee, chairman of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders, rose through ranks in the Supreme Court. Before holding his current post, since 2013, he had chaired the Court of Appeals Region 6, overseeing the provinces of Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, and Nakhon Sawan. 

Thanasit Nilkamhaeng, the Court’s Election Cases Division, rose to the post in 2013. He previously served as the Court of Appeals’ Region 7 chairman, with jurisdiction covering western provinces such as Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Prachuap Kirikhan. He also served as a member of the Court of Justice Management Committee, which issues directives or announcements and resolutions related to the Supreme Court president’s policies.

Sirichai Wattanayothin, Supreme Court vice president, also serves as a member of the Office of the Judicial Commission, which decides on the annual reshuffle of judges and on disciplinary punishment against judges guilty of violating judicial codes of conduct.

Sheep Jullamon, a Supreme Court vice president, has served in several key executive posts such as Court of Appeals Region 1 chairman, Criminal Court director general. Quiet and reserved, Sheep is said to carry out his duties in a forthright manner. He raised objection to a ruling by a judges’ panel of the Criminal Court that acquitted former Revenue Department director-general Siroj Sawasdipanich and five others over a malfeasance case in connection with the Shin Corp group’s tax evasion allegation. Sheep filed an objection to the acquittal, citing that Sirot should have been found guilty of malfeasance in accordance with Article 157 of the Criminal Code. [Raising objections to other judges’ rulings is a system of checks and balances among judges.]

Weerapol Tangsuwan, also a Supreme Court vice president, was chosen by the Supreme Court to hear the corruption case over the procurement of fire-brigade trucks worth Bt6.6 billion in 2011. 

In 2012, Weerapol was also chosen to sit on a panel hearing a case filed by the state prosecutors against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 27 others for malfeasance. Offences were estimated to have cost the state up to Bt4.5 billion in loans extended by the state-run Krung Thai Bank (KTB) to real estate firm Krisada Mahanakorn Group. Thaksin’s trial was suspended after he fled the country, but has continued in regard to other defendants.

Ubonrat Luiwikkai, from the Supreme Court’s Environment Cases Division, is the only woman judge picked to hear the rice-pledging case. She served as chief justice before rising to chairman of the Commerce Division in 2013.

Thanit Ketsawapitak, a senior judge to the Supreme Court, served as Supreme Court vice president in 2011. He sat on a judge panel that heard the Thai Rak Thai Party dissolution case, which ruled unanimously 9-0 to disband the party. Thanit, however, was among minority judges who disapproved with taking retroactive recourse to the coup order (Council for Democratic Reform (CDR)’s number 27) to cancel the political rights of Thai Rak Thai executives for five years.

Thanit was also a member of the judges’ panel that ruled to confiscate Bt46 billion of Thaksin’s assets, for benefiting from corrupt dealings while he was prime minister.

While serving as chairman of the consumers division, Thanit was a member of the judges’ panel that heard the corruption case over the procurement of fire-brigade trucks for the capital. He was chosen as the presiding judge for the trial that resulted in former deputy interior minister Pracha Maleenont being sentenced to 12 years in jail for violating the Submission of Bids to State Agencies Act 1999.

Of the nine judges, five are on the panel that will hear a case against former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, Yingluck’s brother-in-law, and three others, for malfeasance filed by the NACC over the deadly crackdown on People’s Alliance for Democracy protesters in October 2008. The first hearing for that trial is set for May.