Fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra may soon face criminal and civil lawsuits from state agencies and private firms damaged by his abuse of power, following the Supreme Court ruling on Friday.
The Office of the Attorney-General will work with government units to follow up on the legal consequences of the court's verdict, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
The landmark verdict held the former premier guilty of hiding his wealth and abusing his power while holding public office from 2001-06.
In a majority ruling, the judges said Thaksin had executed policies that benefited his Shin Corp shareholdings in four instances before he sold his shares to Temasek Holdings of Singapore in 2006.
Prime Minister Abhisit said during a recording of his weekly TV broadcast that the attorney-general is responsible for helping state units to take legal action if those agencies' interests had been damaged.
State-owned TOT, CAT Telecom, the Transport Ministry and the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (Exim Bank) are among government units that were negatively impacted by Thaksin's abuse of power.
The judges ruled that TOT's revenue share in the mobile-phone concession agreement with Advanced Info Service, a unit of Shin Corp, was reduced from 25 per cent to 20 per cent, resulting in loss of revenue totalling Bt70 billion.
TOT and CAT were also deprived of concession fees totalling Bt60 billion when an excise tax was introduced to replace the fees.
The Transport Ministry's satellite contract with Shin Satellite (now named Thaicom), another unit of Shin Corp, was amended several times to benefit the private firm, resulting in a loss of Bt20 billion to the state.
The Finance Ministry had to provide a Bt670-million budget for 12 years to Exim Bank to cover losses resulting from a Bt4-billion low-interest loan granted to Burma, in part to buy equipment and satellite services from Shin Satellite.
Altogether, state losses are estimated to top Bt150 billion.
In addition, there could be criminal lawsuits against Thaksin for executing policies that damaged state agencies.
The excise tax and Exim Bank cases against Thaksin are now pending in court. However, criminal cases cannot proceed until the accused is present.
Abhisit said the top executives of state units damaged by Thaksin's abuse of power would be guilty of negligence if they did not take legal recourse to protect their agencies' interests.
In addition, former Cabinet members and members of state enterprises' boards, which approved the abuse of power with regard to the concession amendments, for example, could be held legally responsible for the damage.
Both criminal and civil compensation lawsuits could be filed against those responsible.
Thanatip Moonpeuk, a director-general at the Office of the Attorney-General, said the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the police and the Department of Special Investigation could initiate legal cases in connection with the verdict.
Then, these cases will be pursued by the Office of the Attorney-General, which will also serve as the counsel for state agencies damaged by the abuse of power.
In civil cases, state agencies can assess financial damage resulting from abuse of power and work with his office to file suits claiming compensation.
Abhisit said state agencies would have to explain to the general public if they did not take legal recourse.
After listening to the court's verdict, it seems there are parameters to the prime minister's authority, said Abhisit, adding that his government will not overdo the matter because there could also be a political backlash.
On the Bt46 billion to be confiscated by the state as ordered by the court, he said the money - currently frozen - would remain in government coffers in keeping with normal procedures.
