Thaksin ‘may cite illness again to delay indictment in lese majeste case’
The chairman of Thai Pakdee Party, Warong Dechgitvigrom, has predicted that former prime minister Thaksin Shinwatra would again cite his illness to avoid indictment in a lese majeste case against him.
Warong posted on his Facebook wall on Sunday that he had learned from a well-informed source about Thaksin being admitted to a hospital on Saturday night.
He speculated that the hospitalisation would be used as an excuse for Thaksin not to report himself to public prosecutors on Tuesday when he is expected to be taken to the Criminal Court to face arraignment in the lese majeste case.
The Office of the Attorney-General had ordered Thaksin be charged in court on Tuesday over remarks he allegedly made in his interview to a South Korean newspaper in Seoul in 2015.
“I got information from a well-informed source that Thaksin was admitted to a hospital last night,” Warong said.
“So, I would like to inform the society. The source called me this morning that Thaksin was admitted to a hospital last night [Saturday]. It’s not known so far how many days he would stay in the hospital.
But I believe this is related to his upcoming indictment on June 18.”
On May 29, Thaksin had failed to report himself to prosecutors, claiming he was infected with Covid-19, prompting the attorney-general to defer his indictment to June 18.
“The appointment is for June 18, but he has been admitted to hospital. This shows that he would try to avoid getting indicted and so he would definitely not show up, citing his hospitalisation,” Warong alleged.
