The justice system does work

Rakkiart, who was sentenced to 17 years and six months in jail for graft, was granted parole by the Corrections Department after serving two-thirds of his term. Rakkiart, found guilty of accepting Bt5 million in bribes related to a major drug-procure-ment scandal, was the first Cabinet member to be convicted by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders. He tried to escape but was finally caught and put in jail in October 2004.

While in prison, Rakkiart had his sentence reduced to nine years and two months based on pardon procedures, and was finally granted bail after serving five years of his sentence.

Now, back to Canada: After spending more than 13 years fighting extradition while holed up in Vancouver, fugitive finan-cier Saxena has finally returned to face charges. The Vancouver court denied his request to appeal an earlier extradition order.

So, both these cases clearly show that the Thai justice sys-tem is working.

Rakkiart was given his free-dom because he was a model prisoner who behaved well. As for Saxena, though the Vancouver court gave no reason why they had denied his plea for extradition, one can assume that the court had no reason to ques-tion the Thai justice system.

When Rakkiart walked out of prison he said he was glad he served his term because other-wise he wouldn't have a home-land and would have spent all his life struggling.

Hearing Rakkiart say this, one can't help but think about fugi-tive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been claim-ing non-stop that Thai courts are politically motivated and unfair.

A year ago, Thaksin was given a two-year jail sentence for vio-lating conflict of interest rules in the purchase of state-owned land in Ratchadapisek.

If Thaksin takes Rakkiart as a model, he may spend only few months in jail and be released on parole - provided he behaves well.

If he chooses to follow the 57-year-old Indian-born ex-financier's path, then he may end up serving a longer sen-tence. Thaksin should be aware that the guilty are never be able to escape punishment.

Though Thaksin's ban from politics still has two years and seven months to go, if he turned himself in now, he would still have a chance to return to the field of politics provided he chooses the right path.