A PHEU Thai party-list MP quashed rumours that de facto party boss/ father of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has fled abroad and blasted rumour-mongers for stirring trouble, Naewna newspaper said this afternoon (May 25).
The MP, Mr. Anusorn Iamsa-ard, said Thaksin returned to Thailand in August 2023 after 17 years of self exile for the benefit of the country and the Thai people as well as the governments of Asean countries who sought his advice. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is Asean chair this year, has appointed Thaksin as head of an informal advisory group.
Every time Thaksin wants to travel abroad for the sake of the country, he has to ask the court for permission to do so and has been allowed to go abroad a couple times, visiting Brunei and Malaysia for talks on the Myanmar civil war, the South China Sea disputes and intra-Asean trade, he pointed out.
Anusorn added that some people are spreading fake news to stir up trouble and cause chaos ahead of the start of a trial by the Supreme Court judges in charge of criminal lawsuits on June 13 over allegations that Thaksin feigned “critical illnesses” to keep himself from being put behind bars for a single day at Bangkok Remand prison and to be instead granted the privileges of staying in a premium ward at Police Hospital for a six-month period until he was released on parole early last year.
The globetrotting Thaksin had been earlier convicted in absentia to eight years in jail on power abuse charges perpetrated during his previous premiership a couple of decades ago with the sentence having been commuted to only one year under royal pardon.
In addition, the Criminal Court is scheduled in July to open a court trial over a separate, lese majeste lawsuit earlier lodged against the de facto Pheu Thai boss who had allegedly accused the monarchy of behind-the-scenes involvement in the 2006 coup which ousted him from elected premiership during an interview with a news agency in Seoul, South Korea in 2015.
Anusorn said people should look back and see whether these people have ever guessed anything correctly in the past.
When Thaksin is frequently in the news these people say he should not make himself so prominent because he overshadows the Prime Minister but when he keeps quiet this same group comes out to say he is preparing to flee.
“The country has problems that need to be solved. Let the government work to its full potential. All parties must be careful about unconstructive news aimed at discrediting the government and stirring chaos in society,” he said.
CAPTION:
De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Above photo: Naewna, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
Insert: Pheu Thai MP Anusorn Iamsa-ard. Photo: Thai Rath
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