Thai PM faces ouster as court poised to rule in ethics case
The nine-member court will read out the verdict at 3 p.m. local time, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Prior to the ruling, the court has summoned Paetongtarn — who was suspended on July 1 — and the secretary-general of the National Security Council for a witness hearing on Aug. 21.
The case against Paetongtarn stems from a complaint lodged by a group of senators around comments she had made in a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen about a border standoff in June. In the call, Paetongtarn was heard blaming the Thai army for escalating tensions by restricting border checkpoints, which sparked protests in Thailand and calls for her to resign. She later apologized for the remarks.
Paetongtarn has denied any wrongdoing, saying her conversation with Hun Sen was a good-faith effort to resolve the border conflict.
If found guilty, Paetongtarn will be removed from office, a risk for an uneasy coalition government led by her Pheu Thai Party. Her removal would also potentially deepen a political crisis, which has left the ruling bloc with only a wafer-thin majority after a key ally quit over the phone call controversy.
A leadership vacuum would come at a critical time, after a late-July border clash with Cambodia left more than 40 people dead over five days of intense fighting. Thailand is now trying to preserve a fragile ceasefire and resolve the dispute through bilateral talks, with security meetings planned for late August.
Paetongtarn became Thailand's youngest prime minister in August last year after her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, was ousted in a similar ethics-related case over an appointment of a cabinet minister.
The ruling on Paetongtarn also will determine the political future of influential Shinawatra family, which leads the Pheu Thai party. Her father, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, faces a criminal court verdict on Aug. 22 in a decade-old royal defamation case that could see him jailed for up to 15 years.
In September, another court will rule whether his hospital stay counted toward a one-year sentence he was ordered to serve for corruption, with an adverse decision potentially sending him back to prison.
The Constitutional Court said Paetongtarn and the petitioners may submit their closing statements by Aug. 27. –BLOOMBERG
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