By Thai Newsroom Reporters
FORMER DEPUTY PRIME minister Wissanu Krea-ngarm today (May 30) dismissed speculation that he might probably conjure up “legal miracles” again to help de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra or deposed prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra with their legal battles.
Dubbed a high-calipered “legal servant” handling legal affairs on behalf of previous governments, Wissanu who has been recently persuaded by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to help with the Pheu Thai-led government’s legal affairs said he could do nothing about the legal battle in which the billionaire, politically powerful Thaksin is currently engaged under a lese majeste lawsuit filed by the Office of the Attorney-General after having been released on parole during a one-year jail sentence under a separate, power abuse case.
The OAG has filed the case against the de facto Pheu Thai boss on grounds of violating the lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code, for having mentioned the monarchy in association with the 2006 coup which deposed him from power during an interview with a news agency in Seoul a few years later.
Allegedly viewed as a legal expert working on behalf of the “old-time” powers-that-be, Wissanu said he could not help the fugitive Yingluck with her court-convicted case either as she had already been handed a five-year jail sentence on duty-negligence charges pertaining to a government rice subsidy project run by a previous Pheu Thai government prior to the 2014 coup.
The former deputy prime minister previously in charge of legal affairs was responding to criticism that he could probably work out “legal miracles” of sorts as in notorious cases involving previous governments ranging from deposed Thai Rak Thai administration under Thaksin’s previous premiership to coup-installed government headed by former army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
“Given an air ticket, Yingluck may return home at any time but nobody can say whether she would be saved from the court conviction earlier delivered to her,” Wissanu sarcastically put it.
Meanwhile, Wissanu said Srettha could practically fight a legal battle on his own after 40 senators had filed an impeachment lawsuit to the Constitutional Court against him for allegedly perpetrating a severe breach of the junta-designed constitution and code of political ethics.
“There are legal channels through which the prime minister could fight that lawsuit in court but whether he will finally win or lose is anyone’s guess,” the former deputy prime minister said without elaborating.
The Pheu Thai-attached prime minister has been provided a 15-day time from last week to file an affidavit to defend himself in court against the impeachment case with himself being held accountable for the contentious naming of Thaksin’s former lawyer Pichit Chuenban a minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Wissanu said Srettha had personally asked him for help with certain legal affairs of the Pheu Thai-led government but has not yet named him a prime-ministerial adviser who is legally allowed to express viewpoints about anything during cabinet meetings at Government House.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Former deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngarm, right, and de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, left. Photo: Workpointtoday.com
Front Page: Former deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngarm, right, and Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, left. Photo: Thai Rath
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