Police chief returns request on Thaksin rank

FRIDAY, June 05, 2015

NATIONAL police chief General Somyot Poompanmuang said yesterday he has sent back a request for him to strip former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of his rank as a police lieutenant colonel to the police committee that considered the issue.

The panel had failed to thoroughly determine how Thaksin’s behaviour deserved the action, he said.

Previously, Somyot sent back a request to strip Thaksin of his rank on grounds that a panel member failed to sign his name to endorse the decision.

“I insist that I’m not buying time. I don’t fear [anything]. Everything must go through the process in accordance with the regulations,” Somyot told reporters.

According to the 2004 regulation on police rank, an officer is to be stripped their rank if they violate the regulation through behaviour that damages the dignity and reputation of police, he said.

The committee merely decided that Thaksin must be stripped of his rank because he faced a criminal charge relating to a security matter but it was not clear how the former PM had hurt police dignity, Somyot said.

The committee had to fulfil all the requirements needed for someone to be stripped of their rank and return the request document to him by Thursday, he said.

“When all the requirements are done, I will make my recommendation and send the proposal to Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to make the final decision,” he said.

Somyot said he told Pol General General Chaiya Siri-ampunkul that if the committee cannot fulfil the requirements by the deadline, they can ask for more time.