By Out-Crowd
THE PRIVILEGED DE FACTO PHEU THAI boss-cum-convict at large Thaksin Shinawatra is currently speculated to be returned home from Police Hospital shortly and be held in sort of a “house arrest” there.
The privileged patient who has been staying for the secrecy-shrouded “illnesses” in a tight-security, private ward at Police Hospital since the last four months is now expected to enjoy even more privileges granted by a regulation recently issued by the Corrections Department for “detainment” of convicts outside of a prison which could probably refer to a hospital or living quarters somewhere, according to a political observer personally associated with partisan sources.
The regulation allegedly designed for the benefit of the deposed prime minister could probably be effective after his extended stay at Police Hospital has exceeded a 120-day period next week. The “house arrest” of Thaksin could practically refer to any residential lodging of his choice, such as his Chan Song Lah residence on the Thonburi side of the capital.
Importantly, the “house arrest” might probably only take a few months before the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict at large is released on parole by the upcoming February.
“All conceivable ways and means ranging from the compromising of the judicial procedures to the granting of special privileges and use of legal loopholes have been taken to satisfy him.
“He would almost certainly have not returned from self-exile abroad if not earlier promised those privileges essentially to keep him from being put behind bars,” a partisan source put it.
Members of the House Committee on Police Affairs’ planned visit to the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict at large at Police Hospital tentatively scheduled for the first or second week of next month would be automatically cancelled because he will already have left for the “house arrest” somewhere.
House committee chair Chaichana Dejdecho commented after a recent testimony by the Bangkok Remand Prison commander that he had declined to shed light upon the inquiry surrounding rules and regulations for the handling of the “sickly” convict who has been more or less alleged of feigning it all to keep himself from jail.
As a matter of fact, Thaksin has not spent a single day behind bars at Bangkok Remand Prison where he had been destined to serve a curtailed jail sentence with the probability of being released on parole by the upcoming February.
Prayut Chan-o-cha who deposed Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra in the 2014 coup and named himself head of a military-installed government ironically arranged for royal pardon to curtail his predecessor’s jail term under convicted misconduct lawsuits from eight years to just one year during his final days in office as caretaker prime minister following last May’s election.
What has immensely puzzled political analysts and observers at developments around Thaksin is not about how he has been granted the excessive privileges for which the National Health Security Office is literally paying with the taxpayers’ money and at the expense of the judicial and correctional procedures but why such a disputable phenomenon has drawn a relatively token reaction from front-line politicians.
That Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Justice Minister Thavi Sodsong have unreluctantly sidestepped reporters’ questions about the convict at large staying at Police Hospital in lieu of Bangkok Remand Prison was no surprise, given his being the de facto Pheu Thai boss.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a former leader of the court-dissolved Future Forward, now leader of Progressive Movement, has earlier said he has invariably viewed the Pheu Thai as “friend” and not as “foe” as far as the country’s current political environment is concerned.
Former Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat has recently admitted that he has not followed developments involving the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict at large.
The Democrats would understandably be an exception under newly-named party leader Chalermchai Sri-on since they have been quietly looking to jump onto the bandwagon of the Pheu Thai-led coalition partners sooner or later.
Thaksin who had allegedly taken part in the power play over the setup of the Pheu Thai-led government and allocation of cabinet portfolios among coalition partners via Pheu Thai wheeler-dealer Phumtham Wechayachai will most certainly continue to pull the strings though the Pheu Thai-backed prime minister had earlier voiced his frustrations by saying he is “nobody’s puppet.”
Whilst a dozen, little-known street activists have repeatedly expressed dissent to the alleged double standards provided in favour of the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict at large, relatively prominent political critics have appeared unusually tightlipped and hardly aired disapproval to it.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Composite images of de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Photos: Thai Rath
First insert: Thaksin Shinawatra with former prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Photo: Matichon
Second insert: Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Photo: Thai Rath
Third insert: Progressive Movement leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. Photo: Naewna
Also read: House committee members plan to visit Thaksin at Police Hospital
Corrections Dept told to transfer Thaksin from Police Hospital to army barracks
Pita most searched person on Thailand Google for 2023
Pita warns govt of censure debate early next year
Rakchanok sentenced to 6-year jail term on lese majeste charges, released on bail
2 Replies to “Analysis: ‘House arrest’ for privileged convict Thaksin imminent”