THE CRIMINAL Court on Ratchadapisek road today (May 8) refused to grant permission for de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra to travel to Qatar where he would have an opportunity to meet US President Donald Trump, Amarin TV said.
Thaksin was accompanied by Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa for the hearing on his request to leave the country necessitated by a lawsuit filed against him over his verbal statements made abroad in alleged violation of the draconian lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code.
However, the court dismissed Thaksin’s request to leave the country at the invitation of the Emir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani viewing it as a personal matter because there was no clear schedule for a meeting with Trump, with this only being an expectation.
The court’s investigation revealed that Thaksin had received an email invitation from Qatar’s Lusail Palace management office to attend a dinner party there in honour of the US President.
This is in the form of a personal invitation and not an invitation in Thaksin’s capacity as adviser to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who is Asean’s president this year.
There are also no details about the exact schedule with it only being expected that if the US President attends the party Thaksin would get the opportunity to hold talks with him and his economic team.
Moreover, this trip is also close to the Supreme Court’s trial on this case.
The billionaire, powerful de facto Pheu Thai boss has been charged in the draconian lese majeste case after he had allegedly involved the monarchy in the 2006 coup which had ousted him from power during an interview with a news agency in Seoul nearly a decade later.
CAPTION:
US President Donald Trump, left, and former prime minister and de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, right. Photos: AFP published by CNA and Thai Rath
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