Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed today that he has recommended the rejection of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s petition for a royal pardon, in connection with his prison sentence on corruption charges.
The decision was made following the recommendation from former justice minister Tawee Sodsong, Anutin insisted.
The matter had been pending since Tawee’s tenure at the Justice Ministry and the current government is following the same position, he said, adding “I followed Tawee’s view, as he had expressed the opinion that the petition should be rejected.”
He confirmed that his recommendation has already been forwarded and that, from this point on, the matter will follow procedure, in which the government cannot interfere.
Insisting that the decision was not political revenge against Thaksin or the Pheu Thai Party, Anutin said, 'I’m not like them. I do everything strictly in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, a source said the decision is also in line with the Corrections Department’s recommendation, based on the Supreme Court’s ruling that Thaksin must serve a full year in prison.
The Supreme Court ruled in September that Thaksin’s transfer from the Corrections Department to a hospital was unlawful, requiring him to serve his time in an actual prison.
Thaksin’s controversial stay at the Police General Hospital occurred while his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was the country’s prime minister.
The Supreme Court’s order for him to return to jail came shortly after Paetongtarn was removed from office by the Constitutional Court, over her conversation with Cambodia’s strongman Hun Sen.
Thaksin filed the royal pardon petition after that, during the period when Tawee, considered an inner-circle ally of Thaksin, served
as interim justice minister following Paetongtarn’s ousting.
In a confidential formal letter, dated September 23, Tawee however recommended rejecting Thaksin’s appeal.
