Court accepts protesters' petition against DSI chief for malfeasance
By Digital Content



BANGKOK, Jan 31 - The Criminal Court yesteroday accepted a complaint filed by the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) seeking legal action against the Department of Investigation (DSI) chief for malfeasance following his move to freeze the protest leaders' bank accounts.

Suwat Apiyapakdi, a lawyer representing PDRC advisor Pipob Thongchai, petitioned the court this morning after DSI director-general Tarit Pengdith summoned 17 PDRC leaders for their role in leading political demonstrations and ordered commercial banks to freeze their assets in 28 local and foreign banks last December.

He said Mr Tarit later summoned an additional 20-30 protest leaders and also ordered their assets frozen.

Mr Tarit's move followed the meeting of the Special Case Committee chaired by caretaker deputy premier Pracha Promnog, which the DSI chief attended. The meeting resolved that PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsuban and other protest leaders have violated the law for their demonstrations in Bangkok and some provinces.

Mr Pipob's petition said Mr Tarit's move is considered unlawful and has damaged the alleged protest leaders.

The court accepted the request and set the first hearing on April 21.

Mr Suwat commented after the court's decision that he will further file a complaint at the court to take legal action against other persons who attended the December meeting of Special Case Committee at which the resolution led to actions against the PDRC leaders. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2014-01-31

RALLY
PDRC sues DSI chief over frozen accounts
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) yesterday filed a criminal complaint against Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tarit Pengdith for freezing the bank accounts of 18 PDRC leaders.

The Criminal Court has accepted the case and scheduled a preliminary hearing for April 21. Suwat Apaipak, a lawyer for the PDRC, said other people attending the DSI meeting at which the decision was made will also be hit with complaints.

Meanwhile, Tarit said yesterdaythe Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) would, through authority granted by the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order, continue inspecting funds transferred between these firms and the PDRC. He said some 40 businesses are providing PDRC with financial support.

He added that AMLO had no authority to freeze or seize assets spent on political activities. He also said the money trail would be difficult to track if the transactions were only in cash.


-- The Nation 2014-01-31

Frozen bank accounts, now this makes things a lot clearer.

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening.

And now foreigners should file a complaint with the criminal court as Tarit accuses five unnamed falangs to be PDRC leaders. Come on PrBKK, soi41 and friends. Surely you do not want to be associated with PDRC

I read

And now foreigners should file a complaint with the criminal court as Tarit accuses five unnamed falangs to be PDRC leaders. Come on PrBKK, soi41 and friends. Surely you do not want to be associated with PDRC

I didn't see anything naming them falangs, the story just read foreigners.

Tarit is just one of many on both sides that need to be reigned in but Tarit is especially dangerous as he not only talks too much but has the authority to carry things out.

I'm sure he has overstepped his official remit on many occasions but has never been reeled in and it doesn't take any thought to understand why.

Preposterous turn of events. Amazing how the Thai people can be manipulated by all these self serving establishment folks and made up processes.

Preposterous turn of events. Amazing how the Thai people can be manipulated by all these self serving establishment folks and made up processes.

You are actually prepared to defend this miserable piece of excretia whose bias knows no boundaries...?!

The order to freeze the accounts happened in December, it has taken the better part of a month for these bozos to work out it might be over stepping the mark. They really need to get more aware advisers.

So pro-Govt supporters . . . you always claim how things are politically motivated when judgements and decisions don't go your way . . . with regards to Tarit and the DSI, do you not also see the hypocrisy and double standards involved in how the Police and DSI operate under the behest and direct control of PT?

The unilateral boys club ( and one woman who's kept in the dark ) manage to invent every ordinance, make every edict, unanimously reach agreement - among themselves - all with the imaginary whimsy that law can be invented and enacted out of thin air. When you are Pheu Thai - whether you have the power of parliament or not - whether oversight committees say you can or cannot - you believe that you have been endowed with special powers, and that there no bounds as to what you can do. Richard Nixon famously told David Frost " If the president does it, it's not illegal ". Pheu Thai believes in this phrase implicitly. This Stalinist purge of the bank accounts of citizens ( let alone the banks themselves ) without any due process of law, based on a belief that an emergency decree - in itself an unlawful act in a caretaker capacity - allows them to assume the powers of a banana republic and go after - what Richard Nixon would refer to as - an " enemies list ". Each day Pheu Thai takes out their George Orwell manual and decides what rights they will trample on - what new vista greets the purge of the day. It is an administration that is so criminal it now sees itself as beyond reach and beyond reproach.

Under what rule can the DSI freeze bank accounts , without approval from the minister responsible , who cannot act, as the Government is in caretaker mode.

Under what rule can the DSI freeze bank accounts , without approval from the minister responsible , who cannot act, as the Government is in caretaker mode.

I would have thought it would have required a court order to have assets frozen.

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening.

Red democracy 101: If you find it inconvenient to obey the law, demonize the courts. Repeat chorus "we dun nuffink rong!"

The prosecution lawyers first question to Tarit should be "Please explain the new definition of perjury?"

And now foreigners should file a complaint with the criminal court as Tarit accuses five unnamed falangs to be PDRC leaders. Come on PrBKK, soi41 and friends. Surely you do not want to be associated with PDRC

........the people should get this guy...... Tarit...... Featherit..... and run it out of town.

I think he suffers from a little ceasar complex

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening

It is sickening that some people still believe that wathever the Shin Caln does is right and all courts are controlled by the elite. It is even more sickening that it is all they can say on TV.

Under what rule can the DSI freeze bank accounts , without approval from the minister responsible , who cannot act, as the Government is in caretaker mode.

I would have thought it would have required a court order to have assets frozen.

Tharit can do whatever he is told to do becaue he has full backing from Thaksin.

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening.

Red bullshit!

Tarit has bent the law, coming up with some very creative interpretations (his version of Perjury for instance) to assist Thaksin and his gang and threaten, intimidate and bring charges against any who dare speak against the clan. There are many worthy serious crime cases that he simply ignores because its not on the boss's agenda.

Many wondered at the time if he has the authority or power to freeze bank accounts of seize assets. Looks like not,

PTP and their assorted lackeys continue to ride rough shod over the law - ignoring them or making things up to suit themselves. Well, they ain't above the law, and it's going to catch up with them. Tarit is a disgrace. He admitted he knew about the Rohiynga trafficking but did nothing, because no one asked. Publish a cartoon about madame or the caddy though and he'll have you.

What is really sickening is the attempt to blacken the courts and judges with continual smears of political bias to somehow nullify the illegal acts of PTP and its cronies.

What would you do - replace them with a red shirt peoples court and a few show trials ?

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening.

What is nauseating is the one sided efforts of Tarit.

I shall toast the court when he is toasted and in Bang Kwang.

In fact I shall BBQ some lobsters and toast it with some Taitinger.

This idiot without portfolio has simply become Chalerms new wind up toy. Chalerm speaks and Tariit acts

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening

It is sickening that some people still believe that wathever the Shin Caln does is right and all courts are controlled by the elite. It is even more sickening that it is all they can say on TV.

Is that really the most sickening thing you can think of? Because by their nature, dictorships always have to keep power, by using force. It's so inevitably! If you block the majority from voting you will end up using force against them, sooner or later, as they challenge your power grab.

So how come a simple thing like clearing polling stations prior to an election is so hard? It's because the people who do it are so corrupt in the pockets of the elite that they won't do their jobs.

So the court won't accept complaints against the criminal actions of the protesters but will accept complaints against the government which is trying to stop them from funding illegal activity.

Justice! Thai style.

Thai constitution section 236.6 "Duties of the Electoral Commission" states:

(6) to order a new election or a new voting at a referendum to be held in any or all polling stations when there occurs convincing evidence that the election or the voting at a referendum in that or those polling stations has not proceeded in an honest and fair manner;

So yes, their job is to order individual referendums in polling stations that were blocked, and this can occur after the Feb 2nd national election, because if they couldn't then this clause could never be true.

But this is also standard practice, whenever the EC has annulled a polling station, it's organized elections there.

Under what rule can the DSI freeze bank accounts , without approval from the minister responsible , who cannot act, as the Government is in caretaker mode.

I would have thought it would have required a court order to have assets frozen.

Many right-thinking people would have thought that also... Freezing bank account assets by an administrative arm of government with no showing or finding of proof or guilt????

Of course, the last time Tarit tried showing proof, in seeking arrest warrants against the protest leaders, the court denied his request on the grounds that insufficient evidence had been presented.

Perhaps that's why they're more keen on trying to do things under the seemingly unlimited authority of CAPO, CMPO or whatever it's being called this week.

So the court won't accept complaints against the criminal actions of the protesters but will accept complaints against the government which is trying to stop them from funding illegal activity.

Justice! Thai style.

Massive cronyism writ large and this is very desperate now for the Elites as they are starting to feel the pinch now the Army Cannot Coup.

Everytime somebody mentions Courts now though in Thailand, it Strenghens Yinglucks hand, galvanises her support and turns more western media and Govs' off thailand.

The Courts are bolstering the Government side with this blatant action. Seen in Wall Street Journal, Time, NY Times, Economist, Telegraph, Straits times and Washington post this week already.

People do know a Judicial Coup when they see one, and as the Government did such a good job containing the violence. (they kept the 3 month toll way below the army's one week toll in pattani) that she gains more support.

The people on the Courts are just the same blinkered poodles that we see in lot of Thai society. Somebody says jump, they jump. Somebody says get PT out and they do it. Simple as that, but at least this time it is so blatant everybody can see it

Like all thai laws though. We know they cannot enforce it this time!!! So that will fail

The court aka the Bangkok elite. Sickening

It is sickening that some people still believe that wathever the Shin Caln does is right and all courts are controlled by the elite. It is even more sickening that it is all they can say on TV.

Is that really the most sickening thing you can think of? Because by their nature, dictorships always have to keep power, by using force. It's so inevitably! If you block the majority from voting you will end up using force against them, sooner or later, as they challenge your power grab.

So how come a simple thing like clearing polling stations prior to an election is so hard? It's because the people who do it are so corrupt in the pockets of the elite that they won't do their jobs.

Or maybe, unlike you, everyone else can see and understand how nauseatingly corrupt and terrible the caretakers and their cronies are and see no point in putting any effort into a clearly shambolic waste of time election that will have no useful result anyway...? But keep living in your little red dreamland by all means....

So the court won't accept complaints against the criminal actions of the protesters but will accept complaints against the government which is trying to stop them from funding illegal activity.

Justice! Thai style.

Massive cronyism writ large and this is very desperate now for the Elites as they are starting to feel the pinch now the Army Cannot Coup.

Everytime somebody mentions Courts now though in Thailand, it Strenghens Yinglucks hand, galvanises her support and turns more western media and Govs' off thailand.

The Courts are bolstering the Government side with this blatant action. Seen in Wall Street Journal, Time, NY Times, Economist, Telegraph, Straits times and Washington post this week already.

People do know a Judicial Coup when they see one, and as the Government did such a good job containing the violence. (they kept the 3 month toll way below the army's one week toll in pattani) that she gains more support.

The people on the Courts are just the same blinkered poodles that we see in lot of Thai society. Somebody says jump, they jump. Somebody says get PT out and they do it. Simple as that, but at least this time it is so blatant everybody can see it

Like all thai laws though. We know they cannot enforce it this time!!! So that will fail

ONCE AGAIN, AS USUAL, THE ONLY PERSON SAYING 'COUP' IS YOU !!!

Why are you do damn desperate to see a coup ?

It is truly nauseating how you turn a blind eye to all cronyism from the red side that is obvious and apparent yet make up false accusations of cronyism with no shred of evidence against the other side.

THE COURTS ARE DOING THEIR DAMN JOB ! Just because it doesn't go the way your side wants it, it doesn't mean there is anything untoward happening.

Now can you stop with the usual pointless fairy tale crap and discuss facts instead please ?

So pro-Govt supporters . . . you always claim how things are politically motivated when judgements and decisions don't go your way . . . with regards to Tarit and the DSI, do you not also see the hypocrisy and double standards involved in how the Police and DSI operate under the behest and direct control of PT?

The DSI action was SOP. It wan't out of the ordinary. When groups are engaged in alleged criminal activity, the government can and will freeze assets during an investigation. The assets were not seized which is certainly more liberal than what happens in North America. If the police believe anything is a proceed of crime, the prosecutor's office obtains an order and the property/cash is seized and the former owner then has to try and get it back.