Police will not file lese majeste charges against Pongpat Wachi-rabanjong after lawyers and Thai-language experts concluded that the actor's acceptance speech at this year's Nataraj Awards did not warrant such a charge.
Bangkok's deputy police chief, Pol Maj Gen Amnuay Nimmano, said that after it was confirmed the actor's speech was intended to express loyalty to the monarchy, police agreed in a one-hour meeting yesterday that Pongpat did no wrong as alleged by singer Phumpat Wongyachavalit and the case should not be filed to the Criminal Court. The investigators' report containing that opinion would be submitted to the Royal Thai Police board, he said, but at this point Pongpat did not need to report to police. Meanwhile, a public university rector's assistant, Songkran Atchariyasap, 42, filed a complaint with the Crime Suppres-sion Police against Phumpat, 35, alleging five charges, including filing a faulty complaint to police and filing faulty information relating to a criminal charge that could cause damage to others. Insisting he had no personal ties with either Pongpat or Phumpat, Songkran said he had filed the complaint because no one else had done anything about it. He said police could use his accusation against Phumpat as witness testimony in Pongpat's case.