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Published on October 2, 2007

The Office of the Attoney-General has been conspicuously silent about who will become its next chief after Pachara Yutithamdamrong stepped down this week.

Pimol Rathapat, chairman of the public prosecutors committee, delayed the process at a meeting last week because he failed to propose the names of candidates who might vie to become the attorney-general.

Why the delay?

It is well known that Pimol has since 1998 been a legal advisor for Advanced Info Service Plc, the mobile phone company formerly controlled by the Shinawatra family. He has served as deputy attorney-general and now sits on the committee that plays a key role in picking the attorney-general.

The Office of the Attorney-General is an important agency in Thailand's justice process.

It works with the the police to wrap up cases before they are brought to trial and if the public prosecutors decided not to proceed with cases, those cases would not see the light of day.

At this political juncture, the attorney-general is an even more powerful post because whoever takes the job will be responsible for bringing cases against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to trial.

The Asset Examination Committee has been working on a number of criminal cases against Thaksin and his associates over corruption charges and abuse of power. The committee will need the co-operation of the Office of the Attorney-General to bring those cases to trial although, by law, it is authorised to directly present the cases to the court.

Another interesting development is the proposal of a new law that would extend the tenure of the attorney-general by changing the retirement age from 60 years to 70. If passed, the law would put the retirement age of the attorney-general on a par with that of the judges. But this extension would have to be approved on an annual basis, one year at a time, until the maximum age of 70.

Speculation has mounted that the old power clique might try to influence the process of picking the next attorney-general in order to reduce the pressure of cases in the courts.

At the September 24 meeting, the last meeting before Phachara's retirement, most of the 15 committee members agreed that they should vote for the new attorney-general. But they could not vote because chairman Pimol failed to propose any names. The other committee members were at a loss because the law states that only the chairman can propose a vote for the new attorney-general.

In his own hand, Pimol wrote a letter containing 12 points on why he thought it was not appropriate to pick the new attorney-general at that time. The main reason he gave was that they should wait until the new law comes into place on the extension of the tenure of the attorney-general.

However, this law is still being scrutinised by the Council of State, which will take at least two to three months before it submits its proposal to the National Legislative Assembly for debate and passage.

After the meeting, Phachara said that Pimol must bear the sole responsibility for the delay in picking the new attorney-general because he was fully aware that it would take several months before the law could be passed.

Pimol also insisted afterwards that there was no political interference in the process of selecting the new attorney-general. He branded as groundless rumours that the old power clique had sought to influence him to pick Julasing Wasantasing, the second deputy attorney-general, as the next attorney-general.

"The Office of the Attorney-General has a strong system to defend itself from political interference. If politics can interfere in the justice process, then the justice system in Thailand would have been finished a long time ago. We have a fair system to select the candidates," he said.

Pimol added that if the law on the extension of the tenure of the public prosecutors fails to pass the National Legislative Assembly, he would be ready to propose Chaikasem Nitisiri as the next attorney-general.

Pimol will chair the next meeting of the public prosecutors on October 8, at which time it is expected that they will vote for the new attorney-general. There has been a speculation that Pimol is trying to block the appointment of Atthapol Yaisawang, who has the support of Pachara as the next attorney-general.

Atthapol is not a favourite of the old power clique because he handled the controversial case that resulted in the disbanding of the Thai Rak Thai Party, whose 111 executive members were also barred from politics for five years.

The most senior official at the Office of the Attorney-General is Chaikasem, followed by Julasing. Atthapol is ranked 13 in seniority in the hierarchy of the Office of the Attorney-General.

Since Chaikasem was implicated in the CTX bomb scanner scandal, Atthapol's chances of stepping forward to take up the number one job remains possible.

However, the National Legislative Assembly will call the final shot when it comes to approving the next attorney-general.  A candidate with close ties to the old power clique is not likely to get the support of the committee.

 Somroutai Sapsomboon

 The Nation