Foreign minister Don to keep job after court clears wife

[snoop1130]

Foreign minister Don to keep job after court clears wife

By Jintamas Saksornchai, Staff Reporter

 

Don Pramudwinai arrives Wednesday at the Constitutional Court in Bangkok.

 

BANGKOK — A longtime diplomat will retain his position atop the Foreign Affairs Ministry after the Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday there was nothing amiss about his wife’s questionable stock transactions.

 

The ruling said Don Pramudwinai’s wife Nareerat Pramudwinai complied with transparency laws by transferring shares in a private company to a third party within 30 days of Don being appointed to his post. The ruling effectively cleared him of any wrongdoing as alleged by the Election Commission back in June.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2018/10/31/foreign-minister-don-to-keep-job-after-court-clears-wife/

[BigBadGeordie]

Well who would have guessed that!!!

[Chris Lawrence]

Didn't Mr T do that?

[zzaa09]

Aptly named.

Akin to a mafia boss.

[cleopatra2]

It was only in July that the court requested his justification for his wife holding more than 5%.

It seems odd that he requested a further month , until august to give his defence if as the article stated the shares transferred within the 30 days deadline

[yellowboat]

The junta and its minions can do no wrong.  Everyone knows that.  Don is great.  He is not for or of the people.  He is just Don, the Junta's International seeker for acceptance and understanding.

[mark131v]

Do as I say not as I do....

 

Above statement would make a superb motto for just about any Thai in a position of responsibility as they show this attitude on a daily basis and clearly have no shame, sad state of affairs really but unfortunately not at all surprising and par for the course really....

[webfact]

Don cleared to retain Cabinet post as court says wife complied with shareholdings rule

By THE NATION

 

File photo: Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai

 

THE CONSTITUTIONAL Court ruled yesterday that Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai can retain his Cabinet seat, as his wife had complied with the new rule on share ownership within the legal deadline.

 

The current regulation, in effect since April last year, prohibits Cabinet members and their spouses from holding shares equal to more than 5 per cent in any company.

 

The shareholding of Don’s wife Narirat in the companies Panawong and Panawong Realty exceeded the legal limit of 5 per cent of all company shares when the current regulation took effect on April 4, 2017.

 

However, four days after the statute came into force, Don’s wife made a written request for about half of her shares to be transferred to their 35-year-old son, Puen Pramudwinai. As a result, her total shareholdings decreased to 4 per cent. 

 

Documents on Narirat’s share ownership transfers were dated April 27, 2017 for Panawong, and April 30, 2017 for Panawong Realty. The share transfers took place within the legal deadline of 30 days after the current regulation became effective.

 

By majority vote, the Constitutional Court found that Don’s wife had complied with the law relating to share ownership by Cabinet members and their spouses and he should therefore not lose his Cabinet post.

 

The case against Don was brought to court by the Election Commission (EC) following a complaint filed by Pheu Thai Party politician Ruangkrai Leekitwattana in May last year. 

 

Don, 68, said after the court ruling that this case had affected his work as he was preoccupied by the need to prepare relevant documents for the court.

 

The foreign minister said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a mobile Cabinet meeting in Chiang Rai that he was not worried about the case and that he would attend the reading of the court verdict yesterday.

 

The verdict made a Cabinet reshuffle unnecessary, as the foreign minister’s seat did not need to be filled. A veteran diplomat, Don has served as foreign minister since the post-coup government was formed in 2014.

 

In June, Don declared that his wife’s stockholdings should not disqualify him from holding his ministerial seat, saying the assets had been reported to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on at least four occasions in accordance with the law.

 

At that time, the Foreign Ministry said Don’s wife received the shares from her father as an inheritance 37 years ago. They were not concessionary shares but were shares held within the family and not listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, it explained. 

 

The shareholders consist of his wife’s relatives and the shares have remained untouched ever since they were inherited, the ministry added.

 

The EC confirmed that Don had declared his wife’s stockholdings to the NACC on four occasions, more than the legal limit.

 

Narirat’s shares in Panawong, as shown in Don’s second asset declaration in August 2015, showed that she held 7,200 shares, equivalent to a 12-per-cent stake, according to the Isra News Agency. 

 

Her shareholdings in Panawong Realty totalled 3,500 shares, accounting for 17.5 per cent of the total. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30357626

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-01

[Srikcir]

Shocker zzzzz

[petermik]

Thank goodness for that...I was worried they might be in serious trouble............

[chrisinth]

Well, going against the flow of comments, good on him.

 

As long as it is transparent and in the line of the wording of the law, glad he kept his job. This is how legal people make their money, guilty or not. Put yourself in his shoes and think about the verdict you would like to hear....................

[Bluespunk]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

A longtime diplomat will retain his position atop the Foreign Affairs Ministry after the Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday there was nothing amiss about his wife’s questionable stock transactions.

Quelle surprise 

[thaiguzzi]

17 hours ago, Chris Lawrence said:

Didn't Mr T do that?

Yabbut. One rule for Mr T and one rule for..........

17 hours ago, BigBadGeordie said:

Well who would have guessed that!!!

Or even who'da thunk it?

[Retiredandhappyhere]

If the facts about the shareholdings were as stated in the report, how could the verdict have been a majority verdict?  Did a member of the Constitutional Court not understand the law, or perhaps doubt the facts of the case?

 

It is also hard to believe that, if this case was so clear-cut as reported, it affected Don's work as he stated.  Surely producing the few documents showing the transfer of shares could have been achieved in just a few minutes, possibly by his wife, since they were her shares.  At least no watches were involved in this case. 

[rosst]

16 hours ago, Retiredandhappyhere said:

If the facts about the shareholdings were as stated in the report, how could the verdict have been a majority verdict?  Did a member of the Constitutional Court not understand the law, or perhaps doubt the facts of the case?

 

It is also hard to believe that, if this case was so clear-cut as reported, it affected Don's work as he stated.  Surely producing the few documents showing the transfer of shares could have been achieved in just a few minutes, possibly by his wife, since they were her shares.  At least no watches were involved in this case. 

As stated, why was the case continued or even started after a preliminary investigation? 

Perhaps it took some time to fabricate the clarifying documents? 

[Grossman]

21 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Put yourself in his shoes and think about the verdict you would like to hear

 

If I were in his shoes, I'd probably have a big smile on my face when going to the court to hear the verdict since I'd have already known the verdict from the start. 

[Chris Lawrence]

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 7:26 AM, webfact said:

Don, 68, said after the court ruling that this case had affected his work as he was preoccupied by the need to prepare relevant documents for the court.