DNA samples taken from a Toyota Camry were too contaminated to be compared with samples from former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra's residence to confirm whether she used the vehicle when she fled the country.
Deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said on Monday that an informal report indicated there was no evidence confirming the vehicle was used for Yingluck’s escape in late August.
Therefore, police could not charge Pol Col Chairit Anurit with malfeasance of duty under the Section 157 of the Crimes Act.
Pol Gen Srivara said he received the preliminary report from the Office of Police Forensic Science, which would later submit an official report to him.
He said as there is only a verbal confession that the vehicle was used in the great escape, without forensic evidence to support it, police were unable to charge Pol Col Chairit on this count.
However, the legal process against Pol Col Chairit and two other officers, on charges relating to the vehicle and violation of the Customs Act and false documentation, will continue.
The Toyota Camry was found near a house in Nakhon Pathom’s Muang district on the night of Sept 21. Forensic police collected DNA samples and fingerprints from inside the car.
The vehicle, with the false licence plate chor khor 5323, was filmed by a surveillance camera on the night of Aug 23 passing a military camp checkpoint near the Cambodian border in Sa Kaeo province.
Yingluck is believed to have been driven from her house in Bangkok’s Bung Kum district on Aug 23 and to have switched cars in Min Buri. The new car headed to Chachoengsao province via Suwinthawong Road and proceeded to the eastern border.
She fled ahead of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions scheduled delivery of its ruling in the criminal negligence case against her relating to corruption in her government's rice pledging scheme on Aug 25.
Yingluck is now believed to be in the United Kingdom.