By Thai Newsroom Reporters
FORMER PRIME MINISTER YINGLUCK Shinawatra could possibly be accused in absentia and retroactive fashion of taking kickbacks from suspected scammers, albeit unaware of their rogue activities, unless a censure motion against Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul or any other members of the Bhumjaithai-led cabinet in the House of Representatives was foiled at the last minute next month, according to an informed source.
Yingluck, the fugitive sister of de facto Pheu Thai boss-turned-inmate Thaksin Shinawatra, could possibly be accused among a few former heads of government of taking unspecified amounts of payoffs in cash from suspected scammers in exchange for their illicit, rogue rackets preying on Thai and world victims since the last decade if censure debate eventually occurred shortly after the current parliamentary session resumes from Dec. 12.
Bribe-taking accusations could possibly fly in the middle of the House chamber against a few previous prime ministers including Yingluck who may have been an unsuspecting recipient of any of the ill-gotten money originally transferred from transnational scam and money-laundering rackets during censure debate which could potentially be a relentlessly grilling session consuming up to three days and nights in a row.
The globetrotting former woman prime minister, deposed from power in the 2014 coup staged by former army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, evidently flouted the Supreme Court’s ruling which had found her guilty of duty-negligence charges pertaining to a previous Pheu Thai government’s corruption-riddled, populist rice subsidy scheme and sentenced her in absentia to five years in prison.
Thaksin, ousted from elected premiership in the 2006 coup and currently serving a curtailed, one-year term at Klong Prem prison on a few counts of misconduct perpetrated over the last couple of decades, has already been told of the possibility that his sister who had desperately tried to return home from self-exile abroad without being literally put behind bars for a single day might be relentlessly accused of receiving payoffs, no matter how unsuspectingly, from suspected scammers personally associated with high-profile politicians such as the likes of some cabinet members and MPs, past and present, the informed source said.
Undoubtedly, Thaksin could never afford to have Yingluck charged at parliament as an alleged recipient of any payoffs from the scammers no matter if she may have suspected it at all.
For that reason, the informed source said, the de facto Pheu Thai boss-turned-inmate would probably see to it that no censure motion be lodged by his neo-conservative camp, now part of the opposition bloc, upon next month’s reopening of the parliamentary session.
Given the status of being a minority government, the prime minister-cum-interior minister who concurrently acts as leader of the Bhumjaithai, core of the current coalition under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, could possibly be ousted with immediate effect following a marathon censure debate. The prime minister and any other targeted ones in cabinet are legally required to secure a minimum of one-half of the total MPs to survive votes of no-confidence following the grilling session whereas the Bhumjaithai-led, minority government currently has 168 MPs on their side, far short of one half of the total performing lawmakers, accounting for 247.
Nevertheless, the prime minister would effortlessly survive a censure motion if the 143 MPs of the People’s, the biggest opposition camp, among others, gave him votes of confidence regardless of votes of no-confidence from the 141 Pheu Thai MPs, among others.
On top of a list of hot items for use during censure debate will very likely involve the Cambodia-based, transnational scam and money-laundering issue which has been exponentially exerting pressure on the prime minister and his Bhumjaithai-led government.
On the other hand, Anutin could possibly return power to the people by dissolving the House and immediately calling a general election in a 60-day time as provided by law to preempt censure debate on the country’s hottest issue allegedly involving a number of bribe-taking police officers, especially those attached to the Police Cyber Task Force, as well as politicians ranging from local to national levels in addition to former heads of government and members of cabinet, past and present, according to a partisan source.
For instance, a few Klatham, Democrat and Pheu Thai MPs currently representing southern and northeastern constituencies have been so far accused of fostering covert connections with or illicit involvement in the scam and money-laundering activities based in Cambodia and spilled over in Thailand.
In another development, the prime minister might probably advise Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Agriculture & Cooperatives Minister/de facto Klatham boss Thammanat Prompao to resign in a last-ditch effort to alleviate the pressure currently mounted upon the Bhumjaithai-led government and himself as well as to probably abort an unrelenting censure debate, the partisan source said.
Nevertheless, the prime minister may agree to encounter censure debate on condition that it not be followed by votes of confidence and no-confidence so that he could take the opportunity to “clarify” whatever the relevant authorities and he himself will have quietly done to combat the suspected scammers and money-launderers, the partisan source said.
Anutin has earlier dared members of the public to name names of those who may have been involved in online rogue rackets has been invariably taken to task by government critics for not doing enough so far to crack down on the Cambodia-based. transnational crimes.
But the prime minister need not set up any more ad hoc committees to address the issue since he himself has all the legal authority to order crackdowns by arresting suspected scammers and money-launderers and bringing them to justice whilst the minority government is having less than three months from now to run the country, according to government critics. The prime minister has repeatedly pledged to dissolve the House to call a general election within a four-month period from last month or by the end of the upcoming January.
Meanwhile, Thammanat has categorically denied that he had been by any means associated or involved with any suspected scammers or money-launderers even as he reportedly personally knew the notorious Benjamin Mauerberger, alias Ben Smith, one of the 43 scammer suspects currently blacklisted by the United States Treasury Department.
Ben Smith was not only known as adviser to senior Cambodian leader Hun Sen but to the de facto Klatham and Pheu Thai bosses in regard to their respective business matters. He also allegedly acted as a sales agent for a 2.7 billion baht private jet purchase on Thaksin’s behalf.
Thammanat has not only refused to testify over the issue which has already topped Thailand’s national agenda before a House committee launching an in-depth probe into it but threatened to file libel lawsuits against those who may have accused him of being clandestinely associated with any rogue racketeers.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page – Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Photos – Thai Rat
Also read:
Anutin urged to fire Thammanat over suspected scam association
Thaksin only knew Ben Smith as ‘acquaintance’: Lawyer
Govt only needs 30-day time to combat transnational scammer rackets: Prasert
Scam centres in Southeast Asia are on the rise despite crackdowns
