By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER PAETONGTARN Shinawatra today (Dec. 3) categorically denied yesterday’s release of former Pheu Thai commerce minister-turned-convict Boonsong Teriyabhirom on parole might probably prompt a foreseeable homecoming of her fugitive aunt/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra from self-exile abroad.
Paetongtarn, daughter of de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, dismissed speculation that Yingluck might probably return home without being literally put behind bars as had been the case of her father who did so last year, saying Boonsong is merely a convict on parole but her aunt is not.
The former Pheu Thai commerce minister was found guilty of misconduct charges pertaining to a previous Pheu Thai government’s rice subsidy scandal and sentenced in 2017 to 48 years in jail which was curtailed in 2021 to 10 years.
Boonsong was finally released on parole with an EM ankle bracelet for a period of three years and five months until he is completely freed in 2028.
Yingluck, one of Thaksin’s sisters, had been earlier found guilty of duty negligence charges involving the same corruption-riddled rice scheme and sentenced by court to five years in prison.
In 2017, Yingluck was reportedly ushered out of the country via a natural border path into Cambodia from where she travelled overseas and lived in self-exile since.
Paetongtarn told reporters at Government House she has personally talked with Yingluck on telephone but stopped short of saying whether they may have discussed ways and means for her fugitive aunt to return home without being subsequently put behind bars to serve the five-year jail sentence.
The prime minister’s father had earlier reassured in public that his globetrotting sister would probably return just ahead of Songkran festival in the upcoming April.
Thaksin, who had allegedly staged a fake-out at Police Hospital to avoid being thrown behind bars at Bangkok Remand prison for a six-month period until he was released on parole earlier this year, declined to say how he could possibly help bring his sister back home from self-exile overseas.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Photos: Thai Rath
Insert: Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Photo: Thai Rath
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