Arrest Warrant Out For Ex-Interior Minister Over Graft Charges

[webfact]

Mr. Charupong Ruangsuwan. Photos: Thai Rath

 

by TNR Staff 

 

THE Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders today (Feb. 7) issued an arrest warrant for former interior minister Charupong Ruangsuwan on the charges of receiving gifts in excess of the 3,000 baht ceiling, Thai Rath newspaper said.

 

This stems from the defendant not having attended a hearing on Dec. 13, 2022 with only his attorney showing up.

 

Charupong, who was the interior minister during Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration, is charged with accepting Bangkok-Beijing-Bangkok return business class air tickets from China Airlines in 2012 for himself and his team with each ticket being worth 39,000 baht.

 

Full story: https://thainewsroom.com/2023/02/07/arrest-warrant-out-for-ex-interior-minister-over-graft-charges/

 

-- © Copyright  THAI NEWSROOM 2023-02-08

 

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[Henk Langeweg]

So he saved the Thai Taxpayer money? Shame!

[ukrules]

This whole thing stinks, like they're attempting to prevent viable politicians from returning.

 

[TheFishman1]

So the minister excepted free travel expenses from China what do you think this government politicians received from China big brown envelopes for money or extorting the tourist TIT

[sammieuk1]

The president has been set long ago just say the flights belonged to a dead friend and the graft gets blunted and melts away  next!????

[spidermike007]

Why aren't current ministers ever charged with crimes? Do they have total, blanket immunity? Or, is that a dumb question? 

[bamnutsak]

No dog in this hunt but the timeline is curious...

 

alleged "crime" took place in 2012

 

relevant law passed in 2018

 

indicted in 2023

 

 

 

"Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime"

 

Lavrentiy Beria, the most ruthless and longest-serving secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia and Eastern Europe, bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even the innocent.

 

 

 

[Thingamabob]

No offence, or at worst a minor breach, committed. Political chicanery clearly involved.

[Foghorn]

Get financial audits on every member of parliament now and the past 10 years , families included , see how many can pass , lock the ones who fail up and seize all assets , then begin again with the police .  How many more prisons would be needed

[bamnutsak]

8 minutes ago, Foghorn said:

Get financial audits on every member of parliament now and the past 10 years , families included , see how many can pass , lock the ones who fail up and seize all assets , then begin again with the police .  How many more prisons would be needed

But, but the "government" might not function with the remaining three "honest" Thais?

 

 

[mikebell]

He's in Dubai or at his mum's house.

[billd766]

There is an election due this year and he is an ex PTP minister.

 

Muckraking, mud slinging and dirty tricks to the front asap.

[Caldera]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Charupong, who was the interior minister during Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration, is charged with accepting Bangkok-Beijing-Bangkok return business class air tickets from China Airlines in 2012 for himself and his team with each ticket being worth 39,000 baht.

It took them more than 10 years to finalize what looks like a straightforward case? Really?

[tomacht8]

Perhaps he should say in his defense that he only borrowed the plane tickets from a friend who had passed away.

[zzaa09]

3 hours ago, Caldera said:

It took them more than 10 years to finalize what looks like a straightforward case? Really?

Yes. Really.

Thainess fashion.

[Dogmatix]

12 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

No dog in this hunt but the timeline is curious...

 

alleged "crime" took place in 2012

 

relevant law passed in 2018

 

indicted in 2023

 

 

 

"Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime"

 

Lavrentiy Beria, the most ruthless and longest-serving secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia and Eastern Europe, bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even the innocent.

 

 

 

He fled into exile after the 2014 coup and hasn't been back. I think the initial charges against were to do with illegal logging but probably could get enough evidence to stick. If you look at his Wiki entry you can understand why they have been trying to charge him for 9 years. His father was a member of the Seri Thai and fought the Japanese occupiers in WW2. BTW I am not a fan of Thaksin and his family.

 

"The junta ordered all cabinet members to report to their headquarters, but unlike other politicians Charupong refused to turn himself in. He claims to have taken shelter at an unspecified place in Northeastern Thailand.[7][8] As a consequence, the National Council for Peace and Order blocked his bank accounts and assets.[9]

 

On 24 June 2014, Charupong announced the formation of the Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (OFHD),[10] seeking to restore Thai popular sovereignty in the face of the 2014 Thai coup d'état. The date chosen is the 82nd anniversary of the Siamese Revolution of 1932. The organisation's name recalls the Thai underground resistance movement against Imperial Japan during World War II known as the Free Thai Movement (Thai: เสรีไทย, Seri Thai).[11]

 

On 24 June 2015, Charupong, acting as Secretary-General of OFHD, in a video uploaded on YouTube warned Thais of the risk Thailand turning into a failed state and detailed three goals of OFHD: (1) abolition of the Privy Council, (2) depoliticization/democratization/normalization of the Thai Army, and (3) depoliticization of the Thai judiciary."

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Dogmatix

[NextG]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:32 AM, TheFishman1 said:

So the minister excepted free travel expenses from China what do you think this government politicians received from China big brown envelopes for money or extorting the tourist TIT

Eight people agreed with you…. None of you checked…. China Airlines(Taiwan). 

[PETERTHEEATER]

On 2/7/2023 at 11:45 PM, sammieuk1 said:

The president has been set long ago just say the flights belonged to a dead friend and the graft gets blunted and melts away  next!????

What has Joe Biden got to do with it?