In his first public message to politicians who have taken self-imposed exile abroad, National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha extended an olive branch by appealing to them to return home to cooperate in rebuilding the nation with an assurance that they will be given fair treatment.
Although the army chief did not name names — or mention any particular name — it was widely understood who it is that he was conveying his peace message to. It remains to be seen how the self-exiled Thais, or khon daen klai (men who live in faraway lands) as he called them, will respond to his well-intentioned gesture.
He spelled out no details in the come-home plea during the his weekly address to the nation on Friday night — details such as the charges pending against them and whether they will be dropped, whether they will be given an amnesty for all charges except lese majeste or whether an amnesty, if one is being mulled, will cover court convictions against several of them, including fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, former deputy interior minister Pracha Maleenont and former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame.
Nevertheless, it is a constructive move by the NCPO in its attempt to bring about national reconciliation. Also, the NCPO has agreed not to reverse its decision to give the green light to former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s request to leave the country for a European tour during July 20 to Aug 10 to attend Thaksin’s 65th birthday party in France on July 26, despite concerns by opponents that she may not return to face likely malfeasance charges against her in connection with the rice pledging scheme.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission’s (NACC) ruling against Ms Yingluck, which came hours after the NCPO granted her permission to travel abroad, was suspicious even though NACC spokesman Vicha Mahakhun claimed it was just a coincidence since the graft-busting agency had said all along it would wrap up Ms Yingluck’s case in September.
Ms Yingluck’s hostile reaction to the NACC was not unexpected. In a statement, she accused the anti-graft agency of being biased against her for not allowing her lawyer to present more witnesses in her defence. She has vehemently claimed she was not to be blamed for missing or rotten rice.
Apparently, she might not have been properly briefed by her lawyer about the NACC’s employment of an inquiry system in investigating the rice scheme scandal, which is different from the accusatory system employed by the judiciary. The inquiry system empowers the NACC to exercise discretion on the rejection of additional evidence after it feels that the evidence it has already obtained is sufficient.
As a matter of fact, Ms Yingluck is not being accused of direct responsibility for all the cheating that has occurred in the rice scheme as described by the NACC. But she is held accountable for dereliction of duty for not properly overseeing the implementation of the scheme by some of her ministers and officials in her capacity as the chairwoman of the National Rice Policy Committee and also as the leader of the government.
The NACC is expected to file her case with the Office of the Attorney-General within a week after which the OAG will scrutinise the details to see whether the case is sufficiently complete to be submitted to the court with the indictment or whether it is incomplete and more evidence is required.
There is enough time for her lawyer to prepare to defend the case in the Supreme Court’s criminal division for holders of political office and also to beef up the strength of her legal team. Simply put, there is no need to run now.
Against the widespread speculation that she will not return home after this European tour, Ms Yingluck said briefly that she will come back.
The suggestion that Gen Prayuth will take full blame if Ms Yingluck runs away is debatable. Personally, I think it is a win-win gamble for the army chief. First of all, permission for her to leave the country was based on the reasoning that she had cooperated with the junta since the coup. Even if the NACC has faulted her, the ruling does not change the fact of her cooperation with the junta. A retraction of the NCPO’s decision, based on speculation that she may run away, will cast Gen Prayuth in a negative light.
On the other hand, if Ms Yingluck does do a runner, she will look bad in the eyes of the public and the international community.
What kind of leader runs away before a trial is started? Such a situation would haunt her for years to come.
More importantly, the mountain of rice which has been left to rot, to be infested with weevils, to be adulterated with low quality and cheap rice from neighbouring countries and to be stolen by unscrupulous millers in connivance with officials stands as undisputed testimony of the complete fiasco of her government’s handling of the scheme and also the fallacy of the so-called “Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts” grand project itself.
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.