Officer who helped Yingluck flee fails to answer summons
A SENIOR metropolitan officer accused of helping former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra flee the country ahead of her court verdict due in August will face a second summons call after he failed to show up yesterday for the first summons call.
Pol Maj-General Pakkapong said he could not say whether the officer has fled the country.
The Royal Police issued the summons call for Pol Colonel Chairit Anurit of the Metropolitan Police after the National Council for Peace and Order’s legal department officer last week filed a complaint to press a charge against him. The NCPO have accused Chairit of malfeasance of duty for failing to arrest Yingluck despite knowing that she was a defendant in a dereliction case over the handling of her government’s rice-pledging scheme.
The Metropolitan Deputy Commander Pol Maj-General Pakkapong Pongpetra, who is leading the investigation into the case, said the police would issue a second call for summons first instead of an arrest warrant.
The senior office did not show |up to the first summons call yesterday.
The NCPO complaint is in addition to a criminal charge against Chairit for using a fake vehicle-licence plate, and the disciplinary action taken against him earlier by the police that resulted in his being dismissed from duty.
Deputy Police Chief Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, meanwhile, said the police have not yet heard any updates about Yingluck from Interpol.
Yingluck was sentenced in absentia for five years on September 27 for failing to prevent corruption in her government rice-pledging scheme. She had fled prior the first court ruling on August 25, which was then rescheduled for September 27.
Her four Thailand passports have been revoked while there are reports that she is seeking asylum in foreign countries.