25 September 2016•Update: 25 September 2016
By Max Constant and CS Thana
BANGKOK
Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has challenged junta leader-cum-Premier Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha to administer justice toward her as he would with his own brother -- a general at the center of a mounting scandal over alleged abuse of power.
The rebuke by Yingluck, who led an elected government that was overthrown in a 2014 coup led by Prayuth and is on trial in relation to a loss-ridden rice-subsidies scheme, came after he insisted Sunday that he was not “persecuting her” and that “all the actions against [her] were based on the law”.
“Since the Prime Minister has confirmed from his own mouth that the legal actions against me are based on the law and are not persecution, I would like him to apply the same logic and justice to me as he does for his brother and other people who are regarded to be his side,” she posted on her Facebook page.
“All laws should be applied to everyone, not discriminately against my side,” she added.
On Saturday, a government committee pursuing civil liabilities in the state sector ordered Yingluck to pay $1 billion in order to compensate the losses allegedly caused to the state by a rice-subsidies scheme initiated by her government.
Under the scheme, rice was bought from farmers at prices 50 percent above the market level, but led to losses due to the government’s inability to sell the rice overseas and the deterioration of grain quality.
The Pheu Thai Party, which Yingluck once led and several other members of which are under threat of paying fines, released a statement Sunday questioning the junta order.
"Since the criminal case has not been resolved in court, the executive order comes at a surprising time," it underlined. "Furthermore the executive order act came from the military junta and not the people and we question its authority and use in this regard."
The order was issued at a time when Prayuth’s younger brother Gen. Preecha Chan-ocha -- who holds the highest civil servant post in the Ministry of Defense, that of permanent secretary -- is embroiled in a series of scandals.
Pictures circulated last week showing Preecha’s wife, Pongpan Chan-ocha, being treated like royalty while visiting communities in northern Thailand, a region where Preecha was military leader until 2012.
One of the pictures shows her entering a Buddhist temple as an army officer shields her from the sun with an umbrella, while another depicts a billboard with her picture and the words “Pongpan, Mother of Development” next to a weir built with government money.
The latest scandal came after the discovery that a company owned by a son of Preecha and Pongpan was granted seven contracts -- worth $2.7 million -- to construct buildings by the 3rd Army, the northern unit led by Preecha until 2012.
Preecha has denied any involvement in helping his son’s company, saying he had already left his post as 3rd Army chief when the contracts were granted between December 2014 and April 2016.
The Association for the Protection of the Constitution, a local civil society organization, has lodged a petition with the National Anti-corruption Commission over this case.
Asked by reporters about the mounting scandal Sunday morning, Premier Prayuth Chan-ocha replied curtly: “What if this happened to your brothers and relatives?”
He added that in every case the “proper course of action has to be followed”.
Last week, the military government announced that it will enact a “real anti-graft bill” which will include mandatory punishments for relatives of public figures found to have engaged in corrupt conduct.
