The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Tuesday acquitted former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra of malfeasance in her 2011 transfer of a National Security Council secretary-general.
The court ruled that Yingluck had no intention of causing damage and it was a normal transfer, not part of a plot to vacate the position of national police chief and appoint a relative to the job.
The court also revoked a warrant for the arrest of Yingluck, issued when she failed to appear in court in November last year for her trial in the case.
The alleged abuse of power occurred on Sept 30, 2011 when Yingluck, then prime minister, signed an order transfering Thawil Pliensri from the position of NSC secretary-general to work as an adviser to the prime minister. The cabinet approved the appointment of Pol Gen Wichean Potephosree, who was then national police chief, to replace Mr Thawil at the NSC.
After that Yingluck, as ex-officio chair of the Police Commission, proposed that Pol Gen Priewphan Damapong, then deputy police chief and a close relative of hers, be appointed national police chief, filling the vacancy left by Pol Gen Wichean. This proposal was approved by the Police Commission.
Pol Gen Priewphan is a brother of Thaksin Shinawatra’s former wife Potjaman Na Pombejra and was due to retire on Sept 30, 2012.
Mr Thawil petitioned the Supreme Administrative Court, which subsequently ordered the revocation of the transfer order. Moreover, the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that Yingluck had abused her power by interfering in the transfer of government officials. She was then removed from the premiership.
On July 1, 2020, the National Anti-Corruption Commission ruled there were grounds to find Yingluck had been dishonest in performing her duties and recommended the attorney general bring a lawsuit against her in the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.
A warrant for Yingluck’s arrest was issued when she failed to appear before the court for the first hearing of the case in November 2022.
Yingluck cried foul over the warrant, saying she had been the victim of relentless persecution in the Thawil case.
Yingluck, 56, has been on the run since August 2017, when she failed to appear in court for the reading of its ruling on a charge of dereliction of duty in a rice-pledging programme that ran up at least 500 billion baht in losses, some of it from corruption.
She was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison.
Her elder brother Thaksin returned to the country on Aug 22 this year after more than 15 years of self-exile abroad.
He was immediately sentenced to eight years in prison in three cases - later reduced to one year by royal clemency - for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while serving as prime minister prior to 2006.
Thaksin, 74, spent only 12 hours in prison before being transferred to the Police General Hospital, where he has had two operations and continues to be treated for a variety of ailments.
On Monday former deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, a lawyer, said that if Yingluck wanted to seek a royal pardon she would first have to return to Thailand and enter the justice system.
Thawil Pliensri, former secretary-general of the National Security Council.