SUMMARY: According to the Bangkok Post, “Time is running out for Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat - and not on the streets, and not in the courts. A 10-year-old corruption investigation comes to a climax this week and there is only one penalty: Dismissal from office.”
Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Anupong Paojinda became the latest public figure to join a chorus of calls for the government to show responsibility for the Oct 7 crackdown on the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters which left two people dead and more than 400 injured.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has persistently resisted the calls, although he said last week that he would consider a response at an appropriate time. The Prime Minister wants to buy time to delay his decision to show responsibility until an investigation into the tragic event by an independent truth commission is completed. However, time may not be on his side. The prime minister may be forced to stand down, not because of a military putsch or because of a Constitution Court order to dissolve the People Power party on electoral fraud charges, but because of a verdict of the National Counter Corruption Commission, which is due tomorrow or Thursday, relating to a decade-long malfeasance case against the prime minister relating to 43 million baht in tax for the government from the successful bidder for an auction for a plot of land in the Thanyaburi district of Pathum Thani conducted by the Legal Execution Department under the supervision of the department's deputy director-general, Manit Suthaporn. At the time of this incident, Somchai was then deputy permanent secretary for justice.
Somchai was accused of negligence of duty for his failure to follow up with action against Mr Manit, which is still pending with the NCCC. A sub-committee headed by Klanarong Chantik has already completed its probe into Mr Somchai's role and has made a recommendation to the NCCC board which is due to deliver its final ruling this week.
The timing of the verdict could not be more appropriate given the growing chorus for the embattled prime minister to show responsibility for the Oct 7 bloodletting.
If faulted for gross negligence related to a graft case, the only penalty to be meted out is dismissal from service. As such Mr Somchai's qualifications as an MP will be in doubt in accordance with Article 102 (6) of the Constitution. And since he is an MP, his status as prime minister will be in jeopardy too.
Opinion: If so many believe that the prime minister should take responsibility for the Oct. 7 crackdown on the PAD which left two dead and more than 400 injured, then this verdict comes at an ironic time for Somchai. Instead of taking responsibility for one issue, he will need to resign from office from another that happened a long time ago. Either way, most likely Thailand will have a new prime minister within the coming weeks, which leads to the increased turmoil and rocky road the government has had since the military takeover in 2006.
-IK
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