Criminal Court says it's too late to hear perjury charges against Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Monson case

from The Nation:

Court says it's too late for Thaksin perjury case

The Criminal Court yesterday dismissed the first of two lawsuits filed by United States businessman William Monson against caretaker premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

According to the court, the statute of limitations for the 1996 perjury charge had expired.

Thaksin, a former cable television businessman, was accused of giving false evidence in court in a related civil case against Monson, a cable television business owner.

Besides this case, another perjury lawsuit filed by Monson against Thaksin is pending in court.

The court scheduled a total of five hearings, starting on September 18, to determine if there should be a full trial.

The court will make a decision on October 16.

While yesterday's court decision was a setback for Monson, the businessman said he remained optimistic.

Monson added he would appeal the ruling on the first of his two perjury lawsuits against Thaksin.

"A boxing match has many rounds. This is only one round," Monson said after learning of yesterday's decision.

Monson is currently the proprietor of Clearview cable television in Seattle.

He was a former business partner of Thaksin at cable broadcaster IBC.

Monson said karma would eventually catch up with Thaksin. "You call it karma. We say 'what goes around comes around'. This is just a second case."

Monson and Thaksin fell out and Thaksin accused Monson of embezzlement in 1989. He was acquitted.

Yesterday's lawsuit was filed on July 20 - three days ahead of the expiration of the statute of limitations.

But, the court ruled yesterday counting could not stop at the filing of charges. It said the defendant had yet to report to the court and could not be considered to be under its authority.[ed. That's ridiculous. In every legal system the statute of limitations period always stops at the time of filing of suit. This is the only logical outcome, as otherwise defendants could delay proceedings until they are outside of the limitations period. Furthermore, it is not necessary for a defendant to submit to a court's jurisdiction in order for that court to properly hear the case. Just imagine that any time a criminal charge is filed against someone, all they have to do is hide in the open, refusing to show up at court, and the court will not have jurisdiction. Of course this is not the law in Thailand and it is preposterous for these judges to pretend it is so.]

Monson's lawyer Poramet Sutabut said it was impossible for Monson to get the caretaker prime minister to appear in court. [ed. why should this matter? He should be compelled to appear or some reason, such as executive privilege, formally given so that it can be either accepted or rejected by the court. Otherwise Thaksin should be treated as any other criminal suspect in Thailand and arrested by the local police if he refuses to turn himself in voluntarily]

He believed evidence in the hearing commencing next week was overwhelming and proved Thaksin offered false testimony to the court. The chances of the court agreeing to hear the argument were high.

He said Thaksin lied "on numerous occasions" during Monson's embezzlement trial "because he thought he could get away with it".

"That's his habit. What can I say? He's not stupid but he thought he could get away with it," Poramet said.

Thaksin's representative Sombat Chao-wanapreecha played down any political impact.

"I don't know if it will have an impact or not," he said.