The Supreme Court Wednesday accepted for trial the case of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accused of malfeasance for ordering the Finance Ministry to administer the rehabilitation of Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI) in 2003.
The court was set to hear his statement on June 22. If he does not appear, it will issue a warrant for his arrest. If his absence continues for the following three months, the court will try the case in his absentia.
The case filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) against Thaksin was the seventh since he was ousted by the 2006 coup.
The NACC considers Thaksin, 69, in violation of Section 157 of the Criminal Code because the Finance Ministry has no authority to manage a private company.
The NACC resolved to indict Thaksin in 2010 and forwarded the case to the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) to take further action. However, the public prosecutors disagreed with the NACC's recommendation that Thaksin be indicted and a joint panel was subsequently set up representing both the NACC and the OAG to iron out the differences in their opinions.
As the representatives of both agencies were still unable to agree on the issue, the anti-graft agency decided to file the lawsuit itself on May 7.
According to the NACC's suit, Thaksin committed malfeasance when he endorsed the Finance Ministry's decision to administrate the rehabilitation plan for TPI.
The TPI, since renamed IRPC Plc, went bankrupt soon after the 1997 economic crisis and entered a court-ordered rehabilitation scheme.
Former finance minister Suchart Jaovisidha was also implicated but the charge against him was dropped because he had already passed away.
Thaksin, as prime minister in 2003, also nominated people to the rehabilitation committee.
There are four other cases against Thaksin pending trial in the same court division.
They were shelved when he fled the country in August 2008 just before the Supreme Court's division sentenced him to two years in jail for conflict of interest iwhen his ex-wife won an auction to buy a state land plot in inner Bangkok in 2003.
The other court cases were revived following the enforcement of a new law on criminal procedures for political office-holders that took effect last Sept 29.
They pertain to Exim Bank's 4-billion-baht loan to Myanmar; the two- and three-digit lottery scheme; the alleged manipulation of telecom concession fees; and the Krungthai Bank loan scandal.