By Thai Newsroom Reporters
ALL EXPENSES ON MEDICAL treatments of “sickly” de facto Pheu Thai boss/convict at large Thaksin Shinawatra at Police Hospital are being entirely covered by the taxpayers’ money and not his, according to an informed source.
Thaksin, who has been admitted for undisclosed “illnesses” at Police Hospital since Aug.22, marking the 100th day tomorrow (Nov.30), is not paying a single baht out of his pocket for all medical expenses which have so far incurred whilst the Corrections Department attached to the Ministry of Justice is allegedly spending millions of baht in the taxpayers’ money on those expenses at Police Hospital for the VIP patient who is ironically known to have tens of billions of baht in cash and property, the informed source said.
The “sickly” Pheu Thai boss/convict at large remains in custody of the department, the chief of which has earlier officially endorsed his stay beyond a 60-day period at the hospital where security measures have been specifically tightened.
Thaksin has been alleged by his critics and political activists of feigning “illnesses” only to keep himself from being literally put behind bars at Bangkok Remand Prison.
Members of the Students’ & People’s Network For Thailand Reform insisted that Thaksin be immediately returned to jail to serve his one-year term which was already curtailed from eight years by royal pardon.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss, alleged to have played his part in the power play over the setup of a Pheu Thai-led coalition government literally from a private ward at the hospital a few months earlier, is largely speculated to be released on parole as soon as February.
The deposed prime minister who had taken self-exile abroad for 17 years had been earlier found guilty of having perpetrated misconduct during his previous premiership and sentenced in absentia to eight years in jail.
Nevertheless, he has been alleged of staying above the law, undermining the country’s judicial procedures, taking legal loopholes and being given undue privileges to keep himself from jail since he returned on Aug.22, the date on which real estate mogul-turned-prime-ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin was named head of government.
Meanwhile, Digital For Economy & Society Minister Prasert Chanthararuangthong has suggested Move Forward MPs refrain from tacitly mentioning Thaksin by calling him “the person on the 14th floor” of a building at Police Hospital in the premises of the National Police headquarters since they are seeking cooperation with the ruling Pheu Thai and other parties on legislation to grant amnesty for all suspects and detainees earlier charged with politically-involved lawsuits.
Prasert. a former Pheu Thai secretary-general, categorically denied that the de facto Pheu Thai boss had compromised any rules of law whilst he has been staying at the hospital in lieu of the prison.
Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shrugged off sustained criticism of “the person on the 14th floor”, callously pretending he did not know who that person could probably be.
Phumtham is largely known as a Pheu Thai wheeler-dealer who had allegedly taken direct orders from the “sickly” Thaksin involving the setup of the Pheu Thai-led government and allocation of cabinet portfolios among coalition partners.
CAPTIONS:
Top: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinwatra with the Police Hospital in the background. Photo: Matichon
Front Page: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra upon his return to Thailand on August 22, 2023, left, and being wheeled to undergo a CT Scan and MRI on Oct. 21, 2023, right. Photo: Matichon
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