Suspended Thai PM Paetongtarn testifies in court case seeking her ouster

BANGKOK – Thailand’s suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra testified on Aug 21 in a case seeking her removal from office over her handling of the country’s border row with Cambodia.

Ms Paetongtarn, daughter of controversial but influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is accused of failing in her duties by not standing up for the country properly in a call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, an audio recording of which was leaked online.

The Constitutional Court, which ousted her predecessor as prime minister a year ago in a separate ethics case,

will rule on Aug 29

on whether Ms Paetongtarn should be thrown out of office.

The court suspended her from office in July and summoned her to answer questions in the case on Aug 21, which coincided with her 39th birthday.

Dressed in a black business suit, she smiled and greeted reporters as she arrived at court in Bangkok with Mr Prommin Lertsuridej, a top adviser who is also named in the case with her.

Ms Paetongtarn answered judges’ questions for about 1½ hours, but the court has issued an order banning any reporting of what was said during the hearing.

As she left the court, she smiled and waved at a small group of supporters outside.

The case centres around her

call in June with Mr Hun Sen

– Cambodia’s long-time ruler and father of its current premier – which focused on the two neighbours’ then brewing row over their disputed border.

In the call, Ms Paetongtarn addressed Mr Hun Sen as “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent”, sparking a furious reaction in Thailand.

Conservative lawmakers accused her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the military, a hugely powerful institution in Thailand.

The main partner in Ms Paetongtarn’s ruling coalition walked out in protest over her conduct in the leaked call, a move that nearly collapsed her government.

A group of senators filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, arguing she should be removed from office for breaching constitutional provisions that require “evident integrity” and “ethical standards” among ministers.

Bloody conflict

Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who has been in office since Ms Paetongtarn’s suspension, said he thought she acted in good faith during the call.

“I believe there was nothing that affected the country’s security, and I trust her intention to keep Thailand out of conflict,” he told reporters.

As well as precipitating a political crisis, the call – released in full online by Mr Hun Sen – plunged Thai-Cambodian relations into turmoil.

The border row erupted into the two sides’

deadliest military clashes

in decades, with more than 40 people killed and 300,000 forced to flee their homes along the frontier.

If the verdict goes against her, Ms Paetongtarn would become the third Shinawatra to be ousted early as premier, after her father and aunt Yingluck, both thrown out in military coups.

Thai politics has been driven for two decades by a battle between the conservative, pro-military, pro-royalist elite and the Shinawatra clan, whom they consider a threat to the kingdom’s traditional social order.

Billionaire Thaksin, 76, faces his own day of reckoning on Aug 22 when a Bangkok criminal court gives its verdict in his lese-majeste trial.

He could face up to 15 years in jail if found guilty in the case, which relates to an interview he gave to South Korean media 10 years ago. AFP