PM Paetongtarn says Pheu Thai’s Cabinet list not finalised yet

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra reckons the Pheu Thai list of Cabinet nominees will not be finalised in the next couple of days.

“Today or tomorrow, I’ll start holding talks on the issue, but it won’t be completed. I’ll gradually hold discussions on the posts,” she said on Tuesday.

Paetongtarn, who is also at the helm of the Pheu Thai Party, was responding to reporters’ questions on the progress of the list of Pheu Thai ministers. She had arrived at the party headquarters at noon to attend a meeting with Pheu Thai executives and MPs.

When asked if she had met members of the caretaker Cabinet, she said she had done so on Monday but had not discussed their new postings.

“I met to ask them about the progress made in projects initiated by [former] prime minister Srettha [Thavisin],” Paetongtarn said.

However, she declined to say whether the current Pheu Thai ministers’ posts will be changed. “I’ll keep you informed when we have a more concrete decision,” she said.

She also dismissed speculation that her government will bring the Democrat Party in as a new coalition partner. “Nothing has changed as yet,” she replied.

When asked to confirm if caretaker Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow and caretaker Deputy Interior Minister Chada Thaised will be excluded from the next Cabinet lineup due to their questionable background, she said it would be the responsibility of coalition partners to check the qualifications of their nominees first.

She said the partners were told to alert the Cabinet Secretariat first if they suspected the qualifications of their nominees.

The new PM added that the Constitutional Court’s verdict against Srettha last week had prompted her to double-check each nominee’s qualification.

The court ruled that Srettha had violated the code of ethics by appointing Pichit Chuenban to his Cabinet even though he had been jailed for six months in 2008.

Thamanat was convicted of conspiring to import heroin to Australia in 1994 and sentenced to six years in jail. He was deported after serving four years in prison.

Chanda, meanwhile, was once linked to a murder case, though he was acquitted by court later.

Thamanat is reportedly infuriated by Palang Pracharath Party leader Prawit Wongsuwan’s confirmation that he will not be included in the new Cabinet.

Paetongtarn said she would not meddle in the rifts in Palang Pracharath, adding that the party should settle its own conflicts. She also said that she had not spoken to Prawit after her appointment, but had only received a bouquet of flowers and congratulatory message.