Court to hear case against Thaksin over TPI rehabilitation
FUGITIVE FORMER prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will face another lawsuit for the alleged wrongful exercise of his powers in the Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI) rehabilitation case in 2003.
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders yesterday accepted the lawsuit against the former PM brought by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) last month along with 21 boxes of documentary evidence.
The court has called for the first hearing on June 22 though Thaksin remains in exile. The new organic Act on the Criminal Procedure for Holders of Political Offices promulgated last year allows the court to conduct hearings in absentia.
The NACC in 2010 found the former PM in breach of Article 157 of the Criminal Code that prohibits malfeasance, by having the then-finance minister, Suchart Chaovisith, to head the rehabilitation plan for TPI, which was facing a serious financial crisis.
As TPI was a private company, it was beyond the finance minister’s purview because of the scope to influence his ministerial work, the NACC argued.
The latest lawsuit against Thaksin is in addition to five other cases already in court since he was ousted by a military coup in 2006.
Meanwhile, the case against former PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and his deputy Suthep Thaugsuban over alleged corruption in the construction of police stations and apartments remains with the NACC.
The agency said the case had yet to be finalised and needed further investigation.