No official notification but we are ready to take Thaksin to prison, says deputy PM
Caretaker Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Saturday that he has not received any official notification of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra’s return to Thailand on Tuesday.
Expressing doubts about Thaksin’s return, Wissanu said: “I have not obtained any ministerial reports about that and no official notification has been issued.”
The deputy PM is in charge of the caretaker government’s legal affairs.
“I am not sure if he will actually return on August 22. I wonder if he consulted his stars [about his return being auspicious]. I have no knowledge about astrology,” he said.
However, Wissanu added that the authorities can also be notified of Thaksin’s return just one day in advance, because “all preparations have been made and the original plan will be implemented”.
Over the past 15 years of his self-imposed exile, Thaksin has announced his return to Thailand several times, but they never materialised. He had previously said he would return on August 10, but then postponed the date to “no later than two weeks”.
His daughter Paetongtarn, a prime ministerial candidate for the Pheu Thai Party, said in an Instagram post on Saturday morning that she would greet her father at Don Mueang Airport at 9am on Tuesday.
Wissanu, meanwhile, said Thaksin will be treated like any other fugitive convict upon landing on Thai soil. He said officials will meet the former premier at Don Mueang Airport and escort him to the Department of Corrections before he is put behind bars at Klong Prem Central Prison.
Thaksin is eligible to apply for a royal pardon, and this application must be submitted by the ex-premier himself or a member of his family, Wissanu said.
However, he added, any convict whose application for a royal pardon is rejected will have to wait for two years before applying again.
