'No skirting of Thaksin rank revocation'

NATIONAL police chief Pol General Somyot Poompanmuang yesterday denied dragging his feet over the revocation of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s rank of police lieutenant-colonel. 

Meanwhile, Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya said he would submit the report of Monday’s meeting of the Council of State, the Justice Ministry and police on the matter to Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha later yesterday. Paiboon said he would not impinge on the duty of the national police chief.

Somyot insisted: “I have never been indifferent, nor have I dragged my feet on the revocation of Thaksin’s police rank … If it is an order from the prime minister, I would welcome [his decision, which is] under the framework of law and regulation and be ready to continue the process. I have to admit that there are pressures from society. I am ready to receive criticism, but I’d like them to be in accordance with facts.”

Somyot said certain media had been excessively critical of him, and threatened to sue them if it damaged his reputation. 

He added that today, the Office of the Official Information Commission (OIC) would invite representatives from the Royal Thai Police to provide information about the Official Information Act 1997 in relation to the possibility of revoking a police rank. 

Earlier, the Office of the Police Commission concluded that stripping a person of his rank could be done even when that person was no longer in duty.

Somyot also welcomed the government move to convene a meeting of relevant agencies to work on the issue with Paiboon at the helm, to find a solution to this matter.

“I have to say that the issue started in 2009 and the Royal Thai Police have always been working on this issue. However, because of certain circumstances, there have been continuous changes. Ideas, consequently, diverged between 2009 and 2011. In 2012, the police concluded that the rank should not be removed,” Somyot said. 

He said that since 2013, there had been complaints to the Ombudsman that the police conclusion was invalid. The Ombudsman, therefore, had asked the police to reconsider the issue in 2014. It was then that Somyot set up a panel to consider the issue based on the 1994 regulation on rank revocation. 

The panel ruled that Thaksin’s rank should be removed. The dossier was then sent to the Office of Human Resources to verify the details. 

The Office of Human Resources suggested that there were some unclear aspects regarding legal issues that had to be clarified by the Council of State and the OIC. 

They included the possibility of stripping the rank of a person who was no longer in service and the regulation regarding rank revocation without being announced in the Royal Gazette first.