Pardon petition 'went to wrong agency'

Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said that as the red shirts had submitted the petition to the PM's Office, it had to go through several bureaucratic steps before reaching the Corrections Department.

"Considerable progress has since been made but the delay was because it was submitted to the wrong office in the first instance," the minister said.

He was speaking as the red shirts yesterday held a rally outside Government House to mark 60 days since the hand-over of the petition.

They submitted the petition on August 18 to His Majesty the King's deputy principal private secretary, seeking a royal pardon for Thaksin, along with 500 boxes of signatures.

Meanwhile, Jatuporn Promphan, a leader of the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship, dismissed Pirapan's statement. He said the red shirts had filed the petition with His Majesty the King's principal private secretary but according to protocol, the agency needed the government's recommendation on the matter.

When the petition was sent to the government, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said it would take about 60 days to process.

Jatuporn added that the Secretariat of the Prime Minister had kept the petition and later sent it to the Justice Ministry, even though the Corrections Department director-general had said it did not concern his agency.

He said Pirapan's intention was to delay the process beyond December 4 because he feared the King might deliver his decision on the petition when he gave his speech on the eve of his birthday.

He said the red shirts would end their rally at midnight yesterday. After raising more funds at Khao Yai at the end of November, they will hold a longer anti-government rally.

Jatuporn also questioned why the government had to use up to 36,000 soldiers to keep security at the red shirts' protest site. He said he was informed that the government had set aside Bt296 million for allowances to security officials who worked from October 12 to 27 in Hua Hin and Bt200 million for those in Bangkok. He asked why allowances were being provided for 10 days when the red shirts would hold a rally only on one day in Bangkok.

He said the red shirts would not go to Hua Hin if there were no incidents to cause them to do so.