Thaksin seeks annex to ‘secret deal’ to bring Yingluck back home

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

DE FACTO PHEU THAI BOSS-cum-convict on parole Thaksin Shinawatra is virtually seeking a fresh annex to a “secret deal” which he had earlier made with the powers-that-be to the extent that his sister/deposed prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra be literally free to return home from self-exile abroad sooner or later without being subsequently thrown in jail, according to partisan sources.

Thaksin who has obviously “recovered from critical illnesses” in a matter of days after he was granted parole last February is yet to refresh the “secret deal” with the ultra-conservative, powerful elite class to pave way for the long-planned homecoming of Yingluck who has already spent seven years of self-exile overseas as had been the case of himself having returned home after 17 years of self-exile abroad last August.

Thaksin had allegedly managed to keep himself from being literally put behind bars for a single day to otherwise serve a curtailed, one-year jail sentence and being instead granted contentious, double-standard privileges for a six-month period at Police Hospital in lieu of Bangkok Remand Prison.

As part of the “secret deal” under which the billionaire Thaksin had been granted the privileges unprovided for ordinary convicts, the de facto Pheu Thai boss had been practically obliged to return favours to the powers-that-be who would decidedly prefer to leave the helm of government to his party rather than tolerate seeing the Move Forward in government following the progressive party’s electoral victory in which they had won most MP seats last year.

The Move Forward led by Pita Limjaroenrat has not only been politically considered an “enemy No.1” in the eye of the ultra-conservative elite but the de facto Pheu Thai boss since both finally buried the hatchet and reconciled with each other, given their shared upset caused by the Move Forward in last year’s election, the partisan sources said.

Nevertheless, the highly-questionable, double-standard privileges earlier granted to Thaksin would be unlikely to be repeated by Yingluck who might otherwise follow in his footsteps, given the fact that the former woman prime minister is not as old as 70 or over years to otherwise deserve legal loopholes earlier enjoyed by her 74-year-old brother to the extent that he had been practically “detained” outside of a prison.

Neither would the 56-year-old Yingluck feign illnesses as had been the case of her brother having allegedly feigned them and been contentiously admitted at Police Hospital for “critical illnesses” the symptoms of which had remained unknown to the public but been declared by hospital doctors and the Corrections Department’s executive officials as being tantamount to “a matter of life and death.”

In addition to Thaksin having returned home without being subsequently put behind bars for a few convicted counts of power abuse perpetrated during his previous premiership, the “secret deal” had led to a surprise scenario in which a vast majority of junta-named senators cast an overwhelming vote of support alongside Pheu Thai-led coalition MPs for Srettha Thavisin, personally associated with Yingluck, for prime minister.

Those pro-Srettha senators had acquired solid support from the junta headed by army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who had orchestrated the 2014 coup to depose Yingluck.

The “secret deal” had finally prompted the de facto Pheu Thai boss to dump the Move Forward from an original alliance, manipulate the jaw-dropping setup of the post-election, Pheu Thai-led government and allocate cabinet portfolios among coalition partners which undoubtedly included the Ruam Thai Sang Chart under de facto party boss Prayut, among other ultra-conservative camps.

According to Rangsit University’s Law Faculty’s vice-dean Khomsan Bhokhong, the de facto Pheu Thai boss who has obviously anticipated Yingluck’s homecoming as soon as later this year would likely encounter a critical legal challenge which could probably keep his homesick sister at bay.

The deposed woman prime minister had been sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for duty-negligence charges pertaining to a previous Pheu Thai government’s corruption-ridden rice subsidy project.

Thaksin had jubilantly forecast Yingluck would come back at any given time later this year so that she could probably attend next April’s Songkran festival in their northern home province of Chiang Mai.

But at issue involving his self-exiled sister would be a sheer precedent set by former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and former deputy commerce minister Poom Sarapon who had been earlier sentenced to 48 years and 36 years in prison respectively for involvement in corruption charges over the same populist campaign run by her deposed government.

The possibility of the politically powerful Thaksin managing to have his self-exiled sister return home without being subsequently thrown in jail and to have royal pardon granted for her would not only adversely affect the Pheu Thai-led government’s political stability and public confidence but also cause damage to the monarchy, Khomsan said.

Remarkable phenomena in which the de facto Pheu Thai boss whose eight-year jail sentence had been curtailed by royal pardon to one year has travelled leisurely to places as if the convict on parole was an ultimately free person who may have felt free to disregard and flaunt the country’s judicial procedures have considerably embarrassed and frustrated many law-abiding people, according to the Rangsit academic.

CAPTION:

Top and Front Page: Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra with her brother de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Both photos: Thai Rath

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