Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul on Tuesday defended his decision to give back an ordinary Thai passport to fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Surapong said he had written to the Office of the Ombudsman after it wrote to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Feb 12 suggesting she order the ministry to review its decision to issue the passport to her brother.
“The Foreign Ministry just reaffirmed that we did the right thing because a passport is like an identification card. Just like we don’t seize ID cards from people who are being jailed," Mr Surapong said.
He believed Thaksin mainly uses a Montenegro passport for international travel and has other passports from several different countries.
“It’s not about the return of a red passport [to Thaksin]. It’s just his ordinary one,” the foreign minister said, referring to Thaksin’s diplomatic "red" passport that was revoked in 2007 by the Democrat Party-led government.
The Office of the Ombudsman asked the Foreign Ministry to review the decision. When the ministry failed to do so, it asked Ms Yingluck to look into the matter and report progress back within 30 days. The 30-day deadline ended on March 13.