Court allows drugs convicted minister to keep post

[sateeb]

Thailand court allows minister to keep post despite drug conviction

Thailand's top court has allowed a government minister to keep his job, dismissing a bid to disqualify him over a past conviction for drug trafficking in Australia.

Thammanat Prompao was jailed for four years in 1994 for his role in a heroin smuggling case.

Opposition politicians urged Thailand's constitutional court to declare the minister "unfit for office".

But in a ruling on Wednesday, the court rejected the complaint.

The court said it did not recognise Mr Thammanat's conviction because the verdict was delivered in Australia, a foreign country.

"The verdict of any state only has effect in that state," the court said. Therefore, Mr Thammanat "is not prohibited from holding office" under Thailand's constitution, the court said.

The ruling meant that Mr Thammanat could remain a member of parliament and keep his post as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's government.

The conviction was brought to wider public attention in 2019 after Mr Thammanat's appointment as deputy agriculture minister.

Mr Thammanat has denied reports of his imprisonment for conspiring to import 3.2kg (7lbs) of heroin - worth about AU$4.1m ($3.1m; £2.2m) - to Australia.

The former army captain, 55, said he had been caught with flour, not heroin.(must be a masterbaker )

But Mr Thammanat came under scrutiny again after two Australian newspapers, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, reported details of his conviction, citing clippings of old news stories.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Mr Thammanat was arrested in 1993, served four years in prison and was deported immediately on release.

BBC Thai also obtained court records from Australian authorities that confirmed Mr Thammanat's conviction and prison sentence.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia

[handdrummer]

The moral of the story is; never try to smuggle flour into a foreign country.
It would have been better if he'd baked some laves of bread with the flour and applied for an import license.
Failing that, he could have shoved it up his rectum, which is what many people would like to see done.

[hhinner]

Come on. This is very reasonable. The government really needs his expertise in the acquisition and distribution of pharmaceuticals.

[Big Boy]

And the fallout begins.........

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/it-was-flo ... est-point/

[handdrummer]

Deputy Minister of Agriculture. Perfect. Someone with experience is in charge of growing poppies.

If you really want to get depressed, google distribution of wealth in Thailand.

[caller]

It just adds to the feeling that Thailand is becoming a pariah state. But those ruling the Country, as we all know, simply don't care. If they have to become the next Myanmar to survive, then that's what will happen.

[Lost]

If you really want to get depressed, google distribution of wealth in Thailand.

I guess that figure will be depressing in every country. Recent report in America states something like the richest 50 people there own more money combined than the poorest 50% of the American population.

50 people! These folk made themselves a tidy $300-400 billion during the pandemic.

In global figures it's even worse with the richest 26 folk owning more money than the bottom earning 50% of the entire WORLD'S population.

This is the real issue at hand but they've, particularly in the Western world, successfully diverted all rage and fury onto skin colour, pronouns and the left vs the right. When it's always simply been a 'rich/poor' thing. They get us plebs fighting over made up problems.

Sorry, strayed off topic.

[handdrummer]

If you really want to get depressed, google distribution of wealth in Thailand.

I guess that figure will be depressing in every country. Recent report in America states something like the richest 50 people there own more money combined than the poorest 50% of the American population.

50 people! These folk made themselves a tidy $300-400 billion during the pandemic.

In global figures it's even worse with the richest 26 folk owning more money than the bottom earning 50% of the entire WORLD'S population.

This is the real issue at hand but they've, particularly in the Western world, successfully diverted all rage and fury onto skin colour, pronouns and the left vs the right. When it's always simply been a 'rich/poor' thing. They get us plebs fighting over made up problems.

Sorry, strayed off topic.

1 quick further stray; 8 families control 50% of the world's wealth.

What was the topic?