Police reshuffle sees Thaksin allies moved
The Police Commission, with a new command structure ordered by the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM), yesterday agreed to reappoint 29 generals in a high-level change to the earlier annual reshuffle approved by the caretaker Thaksin government, informed sources said.
The revised police shakeup would see some police commanders known to have close relations with ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra reassigned to inactive jobs regardless of their earlier promotions to more powerful positions, the sources said. Reacting to the new reshuffle, the national police inspector, General Seripisut Temiyavej, yesterday questioned the legitimacy of the changes. He said the earlier annual shakeup had already been submitted to His Majesty the King for royal endorsement and he doubted the legality of the changes. "Those who see the revised shakeup as unfair may come forward and I may spearhead their objection to it," he said. Gen Seri, who remained in his old post under the original reshuffle, was reassigned to an advisory post at the Royal Thai Police (RTP) headquarters, swapping jobs with Gen Pratheep Tanprasert. Seri, however, was reassigned for bureaucratic reasons rather than any close relations with Thaksin, the sources said. The new reshuffle would see promotion of the assistant police commissioner-general, Lt-Gen Achiravit Supanpesaj, to deputy police commissioner-general with a higher rank of police general. Provincial Police Bureau 2 Commissioner Lt-Gen Jongrak Chuthanond and Police Forensic Medicine Bureau Commissioner Lt-Gen Amarin Niamsakul would be promoted to assistant police commissioner generals. Under the original shakeup, Jongrak was made metropolitan police commissioner, according to the sources. The assistant police commissioner-general, Thaksin's classmate from the Royal Thai Police Academy Class 26, Lt-Gen Wongkot Maneerin, was moved up to the rank of full general but reassigned to an advisory post at the RTP headquarters. Wongkot was to be promoted to deputy police commissioner-general under the old reshuffle, according to the sources. Another police classmate of Thaksin, Provincial Police Bureau 4 Commissioner Lt-Gen Sataporn Duangkaew, would take a new post as commissioner of the Police Education Bureau, swapping the job with Lt-Gen Supawut Sangong, the sources said. Lt-Gen Panupong Singhara na Ayutthaya, commissioner of Provincial Police Bureau 5, which has jurisdiction over northern provinces including Thaksin's political base of Chiang Mai, would be made assistant police commissioner-general, the sources said.
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