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Published on December 5, 2007

Business tycoon-turned-politician Prachai Leophairatana yesterday announced that he was stepping down as Matchima Thipataya leader, withdrawing his candidacy in the December 23 general election and quitting politics one day after the Criminal Court found him guilty of stock manipulation and sentenced him to three years in jail. Prachai appeared to have made the right decision. His credibility as a politician has already been seriously damaged in the court of public opinion, although as a defendant he still stands a chance of proving his innocence by seeking an appellate review of the ruling by the court of first instance.

Fairly or unfairly, people would expect Prachai, a man with an overarching ambition who has made known his intention to become the next prime minister, to have a more presentable background to begin with. Being convicted of violating stock market regulations does not inspire confidence.

However, hours after he made the bombshell announcement to call it quits, Prachai had a change of heart and said he would reconsider. What started out as high drama turned out to be political farce.

Prachai and his Matchima Thipataya Party would have stood a better chance in the upcoming election if he had bowed out with whatever dignity he still had left. Making an exit at this point would show Prachai to be respectful of people's expectations of political leaders - who must have demonstrable personal and professional integrity. It would not be an admission of guilt.

According to the Criminal Court, the share manipulation happened in 2003 when Prachai was the chief executive officer of TPI, the parent company of TPI Polene, which at that time applied to become a listed company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The Criminal Court ruled in favour of public prosecutors that Prachai and his stockbroker Chienchuang Kalayanamitr had conspired to mislead the investing public during the initial public offering relating to the inflated valuation of TPI Polene at Bt91 billion, or Bt89 per share. The Court said Prachai had not stepped forward to clarify the questionable valuation. Chienchuang was also sentenced to a three-year jail term. His brokerage house, Stern Stewart (Thailand), and Prachai's TPI Polene were each fined Bt6.9 billion.

Whatever course of action Prachai and Matchima Thipataya plan to take will be wrought with obstacles. Prachai should have stuck to his decision to stay out of politics for the time being.

Any attempt by Prachai to go against public opinion could be easily construed as arrogance. Prachai's rise has already been compared to that of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Both Thaksin and Prachai had made personal fortunes as business tycoons and were not averse to spending huge amounts of money to create new political parties to serve as their vehicles to high political office. They did so by the use of patronage and the power of the purse string to lure incumbent MPs or veteran politicians that stand a good chance of winning in elections into their new parties - which became political forces overnight.

In Thaksin's case, the Thai Rak Thai Party went on to win a landslide in the 2001 poll and landed Thaksin the premiership at his first attempt.

Apparently, Prachai was following closely in Thaksin's footsteps by using the same tactics, right down to a populist policy platform.

Shortly after Thaksin became prime minister, his shady past - involving asset concealment while deputy prime minister - came back to haunt him, but the former prime minister somehow manipulated the then Constitution Court to make a ruling in his favour and thereby whitewashing himself. That was the beginning of Thaksin's arrogance regarding power and corruption - and it led to his downfall when the military toppled him in the coup in September last year.

That is exactly why it is disturbing to see Prachai carrying on the way he does - as if the Thai public had not learned any valuable lesson from the dark episode in Thailand's political history under Thaksin. Our advice is: Prachai will do himself and Thai society, which he vows to serve, a great service if he stays out of politics until he clears himself of criminal offences in the court of justice.

The Nation