Red shirts' petition under ministry's scrutiny

Kittipong Kitayarak, permanent secretary to the Justice Ministry, said the Legal Affairs Bureau was trying to determine whether a similar petition had been filed before.

He said the red shirts' petition seeking a royal pardon for fugitive expremier Thaksin Shinawatra was unusual, with many differences from conventional ones. For example, neither the fugitive ex-PM nor any of his close relatives were among the petitioners.

Once it has clear and complete findings, the permanent secretary's office would prepare a report to be submitted to Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga for further action, the ministry's top bureaucrat said.

The official said that only the last sentence of the petition mentioned a request for royal amnesty for Thaksin, while the remainder was a "descriptive essay of different matters".

Kittipong insisted there was no political pressure on the ministry's bureaucrats over the matter. He added there was no need at present for a special committee to interpret the relevant laws.

Last October, Thaksin was sentenced in absentia by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Police Office Holders to two years in jail for conflict of interest in connection with his wife's purchase of  land plots auctioned off  by a state agency. Thaksin did not appeal, arguing the ruling was politically motivated.