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Thailand will issue a passport for fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra "very soon", Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Friday.
The minister said the passport would be reissued to Thaksin as "a New Year's gift".
"When Thaksin's passport was cancelled, there was no order from the courts or the police to seize it," Mr Surapong told reporters.
"So I will use my authority to do whatever is not illegal under the regulations of the ministry to give the passport to ex-premier Thaksin," he said.
"We are checking some more details but it will be very soon. It will be a normal Thai passport. Let's issue a normal passport legally first. It doesn't have to be a diplomat passport."
Mr Surapong said he was confident that this matter would not lead to a new round of violent confrontation between the pro-and anti-Thaksin groups.
He said he was just using his authority as a foreign minister to issue a new passport for Thaksin, the same way as Mr Kasit had used it to revoke his Thai passport when he was in office.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she had nothing at all to do with the move to reissue a Thai passport for her elder brother Thaksin.
"I have never interferred in this case, I've left it to the relevant officials.
"It is a matter to be decided by the Foreign Ministry, but must be decided in line with the law, and the principles of justice and equality,” she said.
Thaksin’s legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said the foreign minister's move was just giving justice to the former premier.
Mr Noppadon said Thaksin had no knowledge about this plan and that the former prime minister was still using the passport issued to him by Montenegro.
Being issued with a Thai passport would not make any difference. Thaksin could use his Montenegro passport for travelling to any country, including Thailand.
Mr Noppadon said he saw the move to return Thaksin's passport by Mr Surapong as a symbolic action, to give the ousted prime minister some form of justice.
Former foreign minister Kasit Piromya, during the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, revoked Thaksin’s Thai passport to cause problems for his travels overseas, but this had not worked because several foreign countries had issued him an entry visa anyway, he said.
The Pheu Thai Party's clear victory in the July 3, 2010 general election, was proof to the international community that Thaksin had been defamed by his political opponents and he is innocent, he added.
Asked whether the move would spark protests by anti-Thaksin groups against the current government, Mr Noppadon said the country is now gearing up to a national reconciliation mode.
“Whether or not Thaksin is given a new Thai passport, it will not affect his foreign travels.
"Those people have a constitutional right of assembly to oppose Thaksin being reissued with a passport, but any rally must remain be within the law,” he said.
Thaksin stripped of his Thai passport by the previous government but received citizenship from Montenegro last year, allowing him to travel internationally.
The move to restore Thaksin's passport is certain to anger his enemies, already irked by the opposition's suggestion of an amnesty for political figures including the fugitive former leader.
Political activist Tul Sitthisomwong says he'll bring impeachment proceedings against Foreign Minister Surapong if he reissues a Thai passport to Thaksin.
Dr Tul, coordinator of the Network of Citizen Volunteers to Protect the Land, said that returning a passport to a person wanted by the court is tantamount to violating the law.
Thaksin had been sentenced to two years in jail in 2008 for abusing his authority as prime minister by helping Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, his then wife, buy prime state land in the Ratchadaphisek area at a discount, he said.
He fled overseas before the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced him to two years in jail in his absence.
Dr Tul said it was wrong for Mr Surapong to raise the cases of two other fugitive politicians, Vatana Asavahame and Somchai Khunpluem, who are on the run and are still in possession of their passports to justify his move to issue a passport for Thaksin.
Any person convicted of serious charges should not be allowed a passport, he added.
By law, it is the duty of the government to bring back a convicted fugitive to serve his sentence in the country.
If the fugitive is in the country, police were duty-bound to hunt him down.
If the fugitive is living overseas, the Office of the Attorney-General and the Foreign Ministry must cooperate to bring him back, said Dr Tul.
Appointed senator Somchai Sawaengkarn said the Pheu Thai government must be able to tell the people why it wants to reissue a passport to Thaksin.
"If the government rushes to restore Thaksin's passport, its term could be short lived because the society is seeing whether the new government is working for an individual or for the country's common interest," Mr Somchai said.
Although Thaksin is a former premier, the court found him guilty in the Ratchadaphisek land case and he is still on the run while there are other cases pending against him, the senator said. http://www.bangko...aksin-soon
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Surapong's passport move 'just a bid to save his job'
Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said yesterday that he believed Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul is pushing hard to issue a passport to former PM Thaksin Shinawatra because he is worried about being kicked out of the Cabinet.
Chavanand said the Democrat-led government cancelled Thaksin's Thai passport because he had an arrest warrant in connection with the Ratchadaphisek land case and because he was actively providing wrong information to the public through his phone-ins.
"We believe Thaksin poses a security threat to the country, so we do not want him to travel freely to foreign countries,'' he said.
The spokesman said Thaksin's passport had expired and the Foreign Ministry would have to issue him a new passport. This would require that Thaksin's photograph be taken.
"The government has a duty to arrest Thaksin since he is a fugitive and not issue him a passport. Police and security agencies must stop the government or the Foreign Ministry because Thaksin has an arrest warrant against him, otherwise the officials involved would be accused of distorting the facts and the law,'' he said.
Chavanond said he had heard that Surapong is one of the ministers facing the axe in the Cabinet, hence he had to show some achievement benefiting Thaksin, which might
help catapult him to a better post.
"We want to warn Surapong that he is exploiting legal loopholes and he would come under scrutiny for dereliction of duty,'' he said.
The Democrat Party, he said, would take action against every official involved in the procedure to issue a passport to Thaksin.
Chavanond said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra could not absolve herself of this responsibility if she allowed Surapong to issue a Thai passport to Thaksin.
Surapong dropped a bomb-shell last week when he said that he wanted to return
Thaksin's passport to him as a New Year gift.
Chavanond said instead of giving Thais a New Year's gift, Surapong was thinking of only one person. http://www.nation...71218.html
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Dems to seek impeachment of Surapong
Legal team of Democrat Party sets to seek impeachment of the foreign minister on charge of negligence in connection with the attempt to issue a Thai passport to Thaksin Shinwatra, reports said.
Wirat Kalayasiri, head of the main opposition camp, said the fugitive ex-premier is now under black-list of police and the move by Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul to give the passport back to Thaksin could be a violation of the law.
Mr Wirat said the Democrats would both seek impeachment of Mr Surapong and file a criminal charge against the foreign minister if he fails to put on hold the plan.
The penalty for negligence of state official is 5-10 year imprisonment, he added.
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Returning Thaksin's passport 'would be illegal'
The opposition Democrat Party said yesterday that Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul's efforts to help former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra obtain a Thai passport violated the law.
The government has no authority to return Thaksin's Thai passport to him as he is a fugitive from justice, said Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut.
The Democrats' revocation of Thaksin's passport was legitimate, but the Pheu Thai-led government's effort to return it to him was illegitimate, Chavanond said.
Former foreign minister Kasit Piromya terminated Thaksin's passport in accordance with the ministry's regulations governing the issuance of passports, as the ex-premier had harmed the country, Chavanond said.
Thaksin was involved in the protest against the previous government, the spokesman said, and had an arrest warrant against him. The Foreign Ministry cannot issue a passport to a person for whom such a warrant has been issued and who is on the run, said Chavanond, who formerly held the position of secretary to the foreign minister.
Article 21 of the 2005 Foreign Ministry regulations clearly states that officials can reject a passport application from any fugitive from a criminal charge, he said.
Many other articles of the regulation prohibit officials from issuing a passport to a person like Thaksin, he said.
"Like many other fugitives from criminal charges, such as former Kamnan Somchai Kunplume and former minister Wattana Asavahame, Thaksin cannot hold a Thai passport," Chavanond said. "Should the minister ask Somchai and Wattana whether they held Thai passports while fleeing justice?"
Surapong will be making a serious political mistake if he issues a passport to Thaksin, Chavanond said, adding that the Democrats would continue to seek Surapong's impeachment over the case, even if he were to lose his position.
Surapong said last week that he wanted to return Thaksin's passport to him as a New Year's gift.
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