Thaksin faces new court strife

Legal proceedings to resume in absentia

At least five court cases, including four alleging corruption, against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra are expected to be resumed in absentia following a new organic law endorsed by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).

The NLA voted unanimously yesterday to pass the controversial draft organic law on criminal procedures for holders of a political position.

A critical issue of the law is that the statute of limitations has not expired while a fugitive suspect is on the run and that the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions can order a trial to proceed in absentia.

Cases which have gone to the court before the enactment of this law will also be affected, meaning the law will be retrospective. Critics say the law has been designed for a specific purpose, to target Thaksin. There are six cases involving the former prime minister.

Of them, five cases have been suspended due to his absence. Thaksin’s abuse of power in the Ratchadaphisek land deal resulted in a two-year prison sentence handed down to him.

The five suspended cases also include four of alleged corruption in connection with 4 billion baht loans of EXIM Bank to Myanmar, the two and three-digit lottery scheme, amendment of satellite and mobile phone concession contracts, and Krung Thai Bank’s loan scandal involving the Krisda Mahanakorn group.

Another case is a libel lawsuit filed by the army. Thaksin has faced at least six arrest warrants for the cases, including the Ratchadaphisek land deal. Once the law comes into effect, the five cases against Thaksin could be resumed in absentia, NLA sources said.

However, Somchai Sawaengkarn, spokesman of the NLA committee vetting the law, insisted the law was not designed for any particular person but for any corrupt political position-holder.

NLA member Thani On-laiad cited the principle of the general criminal procedure code to support his view that to allow the trial to be conducted in absentia would be an act of violating the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and possibly in breach of the core purpose of the constitution.

But Athikhom Intharaphuti, secretary-general of the Courts of Justice, who is among the minority on the NLA committee vetting the draft organic law that was fighting to delete from the draft the part about trials in absentia, said it was important that a trial is conducted with the defendant present least in the first round of it.

That was to ensure justice, otherwise the defendant would later argue that a trial in absentia is unfair and when it requires cooperation from other nations regarding the deportation of that particular convicted individual back to serve the sentence in Thailand, other countries may refuse to help, he said.

“It would be better to adopt other legal mechanisms [instead of the trial in absentia option] such as to freeze the statute of limitations in the event the suspect has escaped during the trial,” he said.

“Another option is to improve the efficiency of the law enforcement organisation in tracking a suspect who is on the run.”

Chusak Sirinil, head of the Pheu Thai Party’s legal team, said the law is against the core principle of the constitution.