Thai politician Vatana Asavahame, wanted for jumping bail in a corruption case, was found hiding in his casino in Cambodia’s Poi Pet border town, police said. One can only wonder about other Thai politicians and what they would do as criminal cases against them come to a climax.
Just about everyone in the upper ranks of Thailand’s government has some sort of legal proceeding going on where they are the defendant. That list includes the Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej as well as his predecessor Thaksin Shinawatra. Seeing as how many of these politicians are cut from the same cloth the question is what are the chances they would also run from justice.
Thaksin Shinawatra is presently on trial along with his wife on corruption charges about a controversial land deal during Thaksin’s administration. Seeing that Thaksin was on the run from the time of the September 19, 2006 coup saying it was ‘self imposed exile’, one can only assume that once again Thaksin would give another shot at ‘self imposed exile’ if the case looks to head south for him. The courts have already sensed this too and have grounded Thaksin legally from leaving the country while his trial is underway. However with the amount of money Thaksin has at his disposal, anything short of being behind bars with several guards watching him 24 hours a day leaves significant doubt he will stay in Thailand.
So with a certain pattern taking shape here early on by connecting the dots, it becomes obvious rather quickly that locking these politicians down days or weeks before the verdict is what may be necessary to insure justice if they are convicted. How that is achieved is up to the Thai courts and most certainly there is precedents for that unusual action. Meanwhile we will wait to see how long it takes for Vatana Asavahame to end his ‘self imposed exile‘.
