BANGKOK: Thailand’s suspended prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra arrived at court on Thursday to testify in a case seeking to remove her from office over her handling of the kingdom’s border row with Cambodia.
Paetongtarn, daughter of controversial but influential billionaire ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is accused of failing in her duties by not standing up for the country properly in a call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, audio of which was leaked online.
The Constitutional Court, which ousted her predecessor as prime minister a year ago in a separate ethics case, will rule next Friday on whether Paetongtarn should be thrown out of office.
The court suspended Paetongtarn from office last month and summoned her to answer questions in the case on Thursday — her 39th birthday.
Dressed in a black business suit, Paetongtarn smiled and greeted reporters as she arrived at court in Bangkok with Prommin Lertsuridej, a top adviser who is named in the case with her.
The case centers around her call in June with Hun Sen, Cambodia’s longtime ruler and father of its current premier, which focused on the two neighbors’ then-brewing row over their disputed border.
In the call, Paetongtarn addressed Hun Sen as “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent,” sparking a furious reaction in Thailand.
Conservative lawmakers accused her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the military — a hugely powerful institution in Thailand.
The main partner in Paetongtarn’s ruling coalition walked out in protest at her conduct in the leaked call, a move that almost collapsed her government.
A group of senators filed a petition with the Constitutional Court arguing Paetongtarn should be removed from office for breaching constitutional provisions that require “evident integrity” and “ethical standards” among ministers.
If the verdict goes against her, Paetongtarn would become the third Shinwatra to be ousted early as premier, after her father and aunt Yingluck — both thrown out in military coups.
Thai politics has been driven for two decades by a battle between the conservative, pro-military, pro-royalist elite and the Shinawatra clan, whom they consider a threat to the kingdom’s traditional social order.
As well as precipitating a political crisis, the call — released in full online by Hun Sen — plunged Thai-Cambodian relations into turmoil.
Later in June, the border row erupted into the two sides’ deadliest military clashes in decades, with more than 40 people killed and 300,000 forced to flee their homes along the border.