Force keen to dispel allegations of bias
By Wassayos Ngamkham & King-oua Laohong
Prayont Lasua, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), has ordered investigators to concentrate on all politically-related cases pending inquiry in a bid to make progress in legal proceedings. Pol Col Prayont said yesterday the move was meant to show that the police were not a tool of any political group. His statement was in response to heightened public doubt on police impartiality in dealing with political cases.
Since 2005, the CSD has received a stream of complaints ranging from libel to lese majeste lodged by politicians, activists, and members of the public. This has tremendously increased the investigators' workload.
Pol Col Prayont said the sluggishness in dealing with the workload occasionally drew allegations that police failed to maintain neutrality in handling the cases.
In a bid to clear the backlog of unsolved cases, police will prioritise them before sending them to the public prosecutors and the court, he said.
''Police won't be accused of serving politicians any more if all political cases are resolved,'' he said, adding 80 cases had so far been finalised and sent to the public prosecutors.
Police earned a reputation of serving politicians while Thaksin Shinawatra, an ex-police officer, was in office before he was deposed in the 2006 coup.
Moreover, several classmates of Mr Thaksin at the Police Cadet Academy Class 26 held influential positions in the Royal Thai Police Office.
Undoubtedly, it gave the police investigators cause for concern as the reshuffle in the police force was under the influence of a faction close to Mr Thaksin.
The CSD received the highest number of political lawsuits filed by both government and opposition and was in the firing line after it twice issued summonses for the 11 members of the Assets Scrutiny Committee in a defamation case filed by Mr Thaksin.
Veera Somkwamkid, secretary-general of the People's Network Against Corruption, complained about the lack of progress in a lawsuit he filed in 2004 against Khunying Potjaman Shinawatra in her purchase of land in Ratchadapisek and the alleged bribery committed by Mr Thaksin and his sister Yaowapa Wongsawat.
People Power party (PPP) spokesman Kudep Saikrachang said their supporters, and not the party, filed a complaint against the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) because they thought the PAD defamed the PPP.
The PPP would not do anything but leave it to the public discretion, Mr Kudep added.
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