By Thai Newsroom Reporters
JUSTICE MINISTER THAWEE Sodsong said today (Jan.9) the Corrections Department will shortly give him official papers to justify an extended stay of de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict Thaksin Shinawatra outside of a prison.
The justice minister told reporters at Government House that Corrections Department director-general Sahakarn Petnarin will hand him some time this week the official documents pertaining to Thaksin’s stay at Police Hospital beyond a 120-day period earlier provided by law without schedule for his being discharged at any time.
Thawee said the submission of such documents from the chief of the agency handling Thaksin’s case has been delayed due to his consultations with Police Hospital doctors.
The chief of the Corrections Department which is attached to the Ministry of Justice is the only authority to approve the extended stay of the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict outside of Bangkok Remand Prison for a certain period of time, according to the justice minister.
Thawee admitted that he has been unofficially informed of the symptoms and details of Thaksin’s secrecy-shrouded “illnesses” but declined to elaborate for the patient’s privacy reasons.
Meanwhile, members of the House Committee on Police Affairs are scheduled for the upcoming Friday to visit the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict at large at Police Hospital where he has been staying in a tight-security, private ward for four and a half months now.
Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsuthin has earlier cautioned the House panel, headed by Democrat MP Chaichana Dejdecho, of a damage lawsuit which could possibly be filed against anyone for allegedly infringing upon the privacy of the “sickly” Thaksin at the hospital.
Anti-Thaksin critics have invariably contended that the de facto Pheu Thai boss-cum-convict at large has merely feigned it all to keep himself from jail.
However, the deposed prime minister is more or less speculated to be discharged from the hospital to some living quarters to stay in “house arrest” fashion at any given time before he is released on parole as soon as next month.
Thaksin had been earlier convicted by court of having perpetrated misconduct during his previous premiership and sentenced in absentia to an eight-year jail term which was curtailed by royal pardon to only one year with the probability of being released on parole next month.
Nevertheless, he never spent a single day behind bars since he returned from self-exile abroad on Aug.22 – the date on which former real estate mogul Srettha Thavisin was named prime minister under the Pheu Thai tickets.
CAPTION:
Top and Front Page: Justice Minister Thawee Sodsong, left, and de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra,right. Both Photos: Thai Rath
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