By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER SRETTHA Thavisin would be very likely acquitted of impeachment charges later this month, thus relieving de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, largely known as “Mr. Fix-It”, of topical stress and tempting him to take a private trip to Dubai, albeit denied by court, a prominent academic concluded yesterday (July 31).
Thanaporn Sriyakul, director of the Institute of Political & Policy Analyses, said the Pheu Thai-attached prime minister would very likely be judged by the Constitutional Court on Aug. 14 as not guilty over the impeachment lawsuit, thus prompting the billionaire, powerful Thaksin to look for the court-denied trip to the United Arab Emirates’ capital for a couple of weeks.
Given the possibility of Srettha being otherwise found guilty by court and being immediately deprived of his prime-ministerial status, Thaksin would certainly not leave the country for anywhere because he would be preoccupied with an urgent task of naming somebody a new prime minister.
“Given the fact that the country cannot do without a prime minister for a single day, the de facto Pheu Thai boss cannot go anywhere at the spur of a moment when the current prime minister might possibly be replaced in a very urgent manner,” the academic said.
As far as Srettha remaining one of Thaksin’s proteges, albeit in behind-the-scenes fashion, the de facto Pheu Thai boss would not have contemplated taking a private trip to Dubai or anywhere else abroad if the besieged prime minister was practically in serious trouble to the extent of possibly losing his status as head of government, Thanaporn pointed out.
Srettha had been allegedly quietly pushed to the elected premiership following last year’s election by Thaksin’s sister/fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been charged with severely violating the constitution and code of political ethics by naming Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer previously hired by Thaksin and a former convict, as minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Dubbed “Mr. Fix-It”, Thaksin who has earlier said he found Srettha’s impeachment case no serious cause for concern had sought court permission in vain to leave for Dubai from today until Aug 16, accounting for a couple of days after the prime minister’s judgement day.
The Criminal Court has deemed it unnecessary for Thaksin as a criminal suspect who has been released on bail to leave the country to undergo medical treatments for his alleged diseases in Dubai since, according to the court ruling, they can be effectively cured by qualified doctors in Thailand. Neither did the court find it necessary for him to personally meet with unnamed, distinguished persons in Dubai as desperately requested.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss had allegedly play a pivotal part in the jaw-dropping setup of the Pheu Thai-led government and allocation of cabinet portfolios among coalition partners literally from his private ward at Police Hospital where he had stayed for a six-month period for “illnesses” until he was granted parole last February.
CAPTION:
Top and Front Page: Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, right, and de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, left. Both photos: Thai Rath
Insert: Thanaporn Sriyakul. Photo: Thai Rath
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