Need a US visa? Get yourself arrested
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It appears that the US State Department is functioning under double standards. The average Thai cannot get a visa, but a politician with five arrest warrants can. I wonder if the Ambassador could explain this.
The recent arrest warrant regarding the Krung Thai Bank case is the sixth warrant faced by Thaksin since he fled the country ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Ratchadapisek land case in 2008.
The first arrest warrant was issued by Supreme Court, when Thaksin failed to attend the first hearing in the Export-Import Bank case on September 16, 2008.
The second and the third warrants were also issued by the Supreme Court in the same year for failing to attend the first hearings for the two- and three-digit lotteries and the telecommunication excise tax cases respectively.
The fourth warrant was issued by the Supreme Court on October 21, 2008, when Thaksin was sentenced to two years in jail for abusing power to facilitate a deal for his then-wife Pojaman na Pombejra allowing her to buy a Ratchadapisek land plot worth Bt772 million from the state.
The fifth warrant came from the Criminal Court on May 25, 2010, over terrorism charges. The court has yet to hear from the plaintiff’s witnesses.
Four of the warrants were issued by the Supreme Court, and one by the Criminal Court. Do average Thais have to get an arrest warrant to qualify for a visa?
Tom
Pathum Thani
