Police chief 'endorses' move to revoke Thaksin's police rank
Play
National police chief Somyot Poompanmuang said yesterday that he had endorsed the decision to strip former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of his rank of police lieutenant-colonel.
He said he had submitted to the Secretariat of the Cabinet the proposal to remove Thaksin’s rank on Monday after checking the procedures.
He said he had carried out his duty according to law and hoped the people and society understand his action.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said the move to strip Thaksin of his police rank did not need Cabinet approval. The Secretariat of the Cabinet would check the documents and forward them to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for endorsement.
Then the PM would forward it for the Royal command and have it published in the Royal Gazette.
Under the Prime Minister’s Office’s regulations and the police directives, Thaksin, who was given a two-year-jail term for violating conflict of interest in the controversial Ratchadaphisek land purchase deal following a Supreme Court ruling in 2008, has faced revocation of his rank since then.
The pressure to recall his police rank mounted after Thaksin’s claim in a May interview published by a South Korean newspaper that the royal advisory Privy Council was instrumental in staging the anti-government street protests that served as a pretext for the May 2014 military coup, which toppled his sister Yingluck Shinawatra’s elected administration.
