Govt review to take more than two months

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that he expected the review of the petition for royal pardon filed by supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to take longer than the usual 60 days.

He said most of the time would be required to verify the signatures on the petition, which organisers claimed exceeded 3 million.

Abhisit said he had learned that in normal cases, relevant state agencies spend no longer than 60 days to come up with a suggestion on what action to take with such petitions.

The prime minister said yesterday that, as requested, the government would make recommendations to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary about what action to take. He also rejected allegations by the red-shirt camp that the government is planning to shoot down the petition.

"I promise that the government will follow usual procedures and adhere to the standard of practice on such petitions," the PM said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the Justice Ministry would be the primary agency in charge of vetting the petition and that the government review would be based on its report.

"If it is deemed necessary, the ministry will create a special committee to scrutinise the petition," he said, promising that the vetting process will be transparent.

Suthep said the vetting will likely focus on legal issues and follow the prescribed procedures instead of attaching too much priority to secondary issues like checking the petition signers.

The first step is to verify the legality and validity of the petition, not the names of the petitioners, he explained.

He said no deadline had been set for the vetting process, hinting that the job might take a while in order to factor in pertinent legal issues and precedents.

Comments made on the matter by various Cabinet members earlier were personal opinions, he said, and the government will make its stance public once the vetting is completed, he said.

The vetting is expected to commence as soon as the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary forwards the petition for government review, he added. The petition was filed on Monday.

Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said the validity of the petition was a crucial point to be determined by the vetting process.

Under prescribed procedures, the ministry will designate the Corrections Department, which is responsible for handling convicts, to scrutinise the petition, he said.

"Should the department consider the petition invalid or as having deviated from pertinent provisions, the case will be dropped and no further action will be taken," he said.

The petition is part of the appellate process and the appeal filed on Thaksin's behalf will be treated like any other case, he said.

Director-general of the Corrections Department, Nathee Chitsawang, said it was unprecedented for a pardon petition to be submitted by people not related to the convict.

Nathee said he would have to consult with his ministerial overseers before deciding how to handle the petition.

Red-shirt co-leader Jatuporn Promphan said the government was obliged to review the petition as per the request from the Palace but had no mandate to intercede or prevent it from reaching the attention of His Majesty.

He said the government can review and offer recommendations for the monarch to consider, but it cannot derail the petition. He also warned that the government would face the wrath of 3 million people who had signed the petition should it try to shelve the issue.

He said the total number of signatures collected were not 5 million as previously claimed because organisers had to remove names that could not be verified.

Jatuporn also reminded the government that the red shirts would continue intensifying its opposition movement, with protests designed to hasten House dissolution so the government can be chased out of office.

The red shirts will also aim to overthrow the "ammat" or elite system, which is detrimental to democracy, he said. He was referring to the catchphrase used to attack the Privy Council.

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai Party MP Surapong Towichakchaikul said he was a distant relative of Thaksin and since he had signed the pardon petition, it should be considered valid. Surapong said his aunt was married to Sathien Shinawatra, one of Thaksin's uncles.

Earlier, the government had said a petition should be signed and submitted by a relative.

He said the petition had also been signed the ex-premier's cousin, Prakit Shinawatra.

Surapong explained that he had kept his blood ties to Thaksin secret for fear that he might be accused of using connections to gain a position in the party.