Paroled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will report to the Office of Attorney-General (OAG) tomorrow, to be formally indicted on a lèse majesté charge in the Criminal Court, one of Thaksin’s lawyers, Winyat Chartmontri, said today.
He also said that he has already prepared surety, to be used in the application for bail for Thaksin.
Meanwhile, government chief whip, Wisut Chainaroon, also offered an assurance that Thaksin will not seek another postponement of the indictment and will report to the OAG as scheduled.
He then urged members of the public not to obsess over the case, but to focus on parliament’s deliberation of the budget bill tomorrow.
The remarks by the two men appear to negate speculation that Thaksin may, again, skip the indictment.
On May 29, Thaksin failed to show up at the OAG as scheduled, claiming that he was ill with a COVID-19 infection. The OAG agreed to postpone the indictment until tomorrow.
The lèse majesté charge concerns remarks, allegedly made by Thaksin to a South Korean newspaper “Chosun Ilbo” on May 21, 2015, during which he claimed that privy councillors supported the 2014 coup that ousted the government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
