Barkar Nash (Page 1,010)

PM insists issue is all about the rule of law

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said plans by fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return from self-exile to Thailand were not brought up during a meeting with the head of police on Monday.

Gen Prayut was responding to media questions about the meeting with national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas and whether the two spoke about Thaksin’s plans.

“We never talked about Thaksin, and should I have to get involved with him?” he said.

Asked what police need to be prepared if Thaksin did return, Gen Prayut said that the matter has nothing to do with the government as it is about the rule of law.

“If he returns, he will have to face legal procedures, that’s all. I have nothing to do with it,” he said.

Thaksin tweeted before the May 14 election that he was determined to return to Thailand before his 74th birthday on July 26. He also tweeted that he wanted to return home to care for his grandchildren. He said he was ready to face justice.

Thaksin was overthrown by a military coup on Sept 19, 2006, while overseas. He has since lived in self-imposed exile, except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008. There are 18 records of him talking about him returning in that time.

The first was on March 30, 2009, when he addressed red-shirt protesters outside Government House via a video conference. “As soon as the first shot is fired at people, I’ll lead you to Bangkok,” he said.

Three years later, he conducted a phone-in to greet red-shirt supporters at a gathering in Surin and told them: “If I go home, I’ll have to come back cool. And I’ll let you know later how to come back cool.” The rest of Thaksin’s homecoming nods were recorded from 2021 to this May.

Thaksin was sentenced in absentia by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to 12 years in prison over four graft cases. He risks arrest as soon as he is in Thai jurisdiction.

Anutin says party’s former candidate filed complaint against Pita in a personal capacity

Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul says a former MP candidate of the party was acting strictly in a personal capacity when he filed a complaint about media share ownership against Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat.

Bhumjaithai had nothing to do with the actions taken by former Bangkok MP candidate Nik Saengsirinawin, Mr Anutin said after a meeting of the caretaker cabinet on Tuesday.

“The leader and the secretary-general of the party are the only persons who can carry out activities on behalf of the party,” said Mr Anutin, who is also a deputy prime minister and public health minister.

“The action of Mr Nik was personal and he made the move in his capacity as a citizen, not as a representative of the Bhumjaithai Party.

“The party never did such a thing. The party has nothing to do with it and would never waste its time on such a matter. We never hit below the belt.”

Mr Anutin said that he had personally congratulated the Move Forward Party for winning the most seats after learning about the election results on the night of May 14.

“I have always given moral support to the Move Forward Party,” he said.

Mr Nik is among those who have questioned Mr Pita’s eligibility to be an MP because he held shares in iTV, a broadcaster that has not engaged in any media activities for 15 years.

The constitution prohibits a shareholder of a media organisation from running in a general election. The intent of the rule was to prevent politicians from influencing media coverage. The 42,000 shares held by Mr Pita, which he says he transferred to others in late May, represent about 0.0035% of the total shares in iTV.

Mr Nik admitted that he too had held shares in iTV but he transferred them to another man who in April asked during an iTV shareholders’ meeting if iTV remained a media organisation.

iTV chairman Kim Siritaweechai replied: “As of now the firm is not doing anything. It has to wait for a legal case to end.”

However, the official minutes of the meeting do not match with the video recording that was obtained by TV Channel 3 and broadcast on Sunday. As a result, doubt has been cast on the validity of the complaints raised by Mr Pita.

The majority shareholder of iTV is Intouch Holdings Plc, which in turn counts Gulf Energy Plc, controlled by billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi, as its major shareholder. Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, in which Mr Anutin’s family are major shareholders, has a 1.88% shareholding, worth about 10.3 billion baht at current prices, in Gulf Energy.

Not related to media shareholding row, says petitioner

Political activist Ruangkrai Leekitwattana on Tuesday submitted additional documents to the Election Commission affirming his contention Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s ownership of media shares meant he was ineligible when he registered to run for election.

His move came after the EC on June 9 threw out all complaints related to media share ownership against the MFP leader and prime ministerial candidate, but will instead investigate whether Mr Pita applied to be a list-MP candidate despite knowing he might not have been eligible.

EC chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong on Monday said that, with information available, a committee would be set up to further investigate whether Mr Pita violated Section 42 (3) and Section 151 of the law on the election of MPs.

Under Section 151, those who apply to run in an election while knowing they are not qualified or prohibited from doing so are liable to a prison term of one to 20 years and a fine of 20,000-200,000 baht. They are also banned from running in an election for 20 years.

Under the current constitution, individuals with media holdings are barred from running for political office.

Mr Ruangkrai said he had submitted more documents to the EC, affirming that Mr Pita had violated Section 151,

They included Mr Pita’s Facebook post to clarify his iTV shareholding and a report on Mr Pita’s transfer of his iTV shares to relatives on May 25.

Also submitted to the EC were the minutes of the online  meeting of iTV shareholders on April 26 which contained a question from a shareholder about iTV’s business and the answer from a company executive that iTV was a media outlet, and video of the same meeting which showed him giving a contradictory reply.

Mr Ruangkrai said the minutes of the meeting and the video had nothing to do with his earlier petition about Mr Pita’s media shareholding.

He also submitted to the EC documents on iTV’s plans to continue operating a media business after its contract with the Prime Minister’s Office was terminated. He said the company’s financial statement for the first quarter of 2023 stated that it ran a media business from February 2023 and revenue from the business would be known in the second quarter.

Mr Ruangkrai said he was not worried about opponents’ claims he used false documents in filing the petition against Mr Pita.

He said once the EC endorses Mr Pita’s election, he would again submit a petition seeking Mr Pita’s removal under Section 82 of the constitution.

Section 82 states that at least 50 members of the House of Representatives, or 25 members of the Senate, can submit a petition seeking a Constitutional Court ruling on whether an MP held a seat in violation of the constitution.

Ruangkrai Leekitwattana

Chinese investment complexes have their own generators

TAK: Ordinary households in Myawaddy have been hit hard by the decision to cut off the supply of electricity across the border from Thailand, but big Chinese investors are unaffected, their huge complexes brightly lit as usual at night.

Thailand’s Provincial Electricity Authority cut off supply to  the Myawaddy power concessionaire on June 6 at the request of the Myanmar government after the contract expired. People and cargo continue to cross the border in Mae Sot district of Tak as usual.

Thongchai Maneesorn, owner of border Pier 23 in Ban Wang Kaeo of tambon Mae Pa in Mae Sot, said disconecting the town had little impact on Chinese investors in Myawaddy and their huge complexes. They had their own generators.

However, the impact was obvious on ordinary Myanmar household. Local mobile phone networks were disconnected and they had to use ice to preserve fresh food because their fridges were not working. 

Well-to-do families bought their own generators, and were little affected. Households with less money pooled their resources to buy generators they could share. 

Demand from Myawaddy for generators and ice from Mae Sot was high. Generators were sometimes unavailable in Mae Sot and buyers had to wait for days for supplies from other provinces of Thailand.

Regarding mobile phone service, subscribers of local mobile phone networks were completely disconnected because their networks depended on electricity from the Thai side.

Mobile phones remain usable for the Myawaddy residents who use services from Thai providers and stay in border areas covered by Thai networks.

“There are no significant impacts on the new town zone of Chinese people because they can afford generators for their buildings. Since the power stoppage from Thailand, they depend on their generators,” Mr Thongchai said.

“From the Thai side, their buildings are seen illuminated every night as usual,” he said.