Phumtham” is irritated after being pressed to ask about the Tak Bai case, not knowing whether “Gen. Pisal and his gang” are in Thailand or not, pointing out that if they are, they would have been arrested or invited.
Mr. Phumtham Wechayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, talked about the progress of tracking down General Pisal Wattanawongkiri, a party-list MP for the Pheu Thai Party, who is a former commander of the 4th Army Region and is involved in the Tak Bai case, to bring him to justice after the statute of limitations is about to expire. He said that he had talked about this many times, that it was a personal matter, and that he had not been found at this time. Moreover, it was a case that he had to fight to assert justice, which was our responsibility. However, we could not do more than that. We did not know where each person had gone, so it was each person’s responsibility. As with every previous case, if the defendant escaped, we had to search for him. That was all we could do.
W
hen asked if General Pisal and his associates were still in Thailand, Mr. Phumtham said that if they knew they were still in Thailand, they could have arrested or invited them, but at the moment, they did not know.
When asked again how General Pisal, as an MP of the Pheu Thai Party, would not know about the movements of the MPs, Mr. Phumtham said that even in the household matters, whether it was his brother or sister, when they traveled somewhere, they did not tell him, so how would he know? The relationship did not state that he had to know everything. He emphasized that it was a matter for each person to make their own decision, and he thought that it had to go through the justice process. At the moment, the government had many issues, the flooding problem was more serious.
When asked if this issue is a sensitive issue for the situation in the three southern border provinces, Mr. Phumtham said, “They solve their own problems. You should focus on solving the flooding problem and the people who are sufferi
ng. I want you to look at this.”
However, it was noted that Mr. Phumtham was emotional after being pressed on this matter, which is different from his usual response to media questions with a cheerful tone and expression, no matter how harsh the question is.
Source: Thai News Agency