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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Big boss may override reshuffle

Big boss may override reshuffle



It is true that money and the bargaining power of political factions always influence the allocation of ministerial posts.


This is also bound to apply to the upcoming reshuffle of the Sundaravej government.

Prime
Minister Samak said he would reshuffle his Cabinet at the end of the
month after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office
Holders rules on whether to accept the case concerning irregularities
in the two- and three-digit lotteries scheme, submitted by the Assets
Examination Committee on July 28.

If the case is accepted,
three ministers - Surapong Suebwonglee, Uraiwan Thienthong and Anurak
Jureemas - may have to be suspended. However, should this be the case,
the ministers plan to seek a Constitution Court ruling on whether they
have to be suspended.

The reshuffle could create some
chaos. No one wants to be ousted or shifted from their posts,
especially those ministers who are also leaders of factions.

Interior
Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who may move to the Justice or Public
Health posts, has tried to forge an alliance with Northeast MPs,
excluding Newin Chidchob's faction. Bangkok MP Sudarat Keyuraphan's
faction is another Chalerm target.

Chalerm has
reportedly told Samak that if he is removed from the Interior
portfolio, he will only accept the post of justice minister.

Newin
reportedly did not want to lose any of his four ministerial seats,
filled by Deputy Education Minister Pongsakorn Annopporn, Deputy
Agriculture Minister Theerachai Saenkaew, Deputy Transport Minister
Songsak Thongsri and Deputy Interior Minister Supon Fongngam.

All
eyes are on Samak, as he vowed he would reshuffle his Cabinet a second
time to improve the government's image. He said he would appoint
outsiders to some posts, regardless of faction quotas.

Does Samak have the power to do that?

In
fact, since Samak became prime minister the real power of the People
Power Party (PPP) and the government appears to be in the hands of "the
big boss", the real owner of the party.

Also, as long as
money still feeds party members, financiers and leaders of the factions
will continue to play a vital role in appointing Cabinet members.

"If
Samak really cuts the quota from the financiers and the factions, who
will take care of party MPs?" a source from the PPP said.

He
said the parties had asked their ministers to allocate the
responsibility of overseeing party MPs in order to avoid a
concentration of MPs under any particular party.

The source said the big boss would be the one who has the final say in this reshuffle.

"At most, Samak can only float his idea through the media. Every decision will depend on the big boss," he said.

For these reasons, perhaps Samak will have to eat his words again.

Source: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/23/politics/politics_30078751.php

Cabinet reshuffle on tract: Samak

Cabinet reshuffle on tract: Samak


Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on
Wednesday confirmed that the Cabinet line-up would be submitted for
royal endorsement regardless of the departure of Puea Pandin Party
leader Suwit Khunkitti.








Samak did not go into the details of the new line-up. He earlier
said the list of the Cabinet appointments would be forwarded to the
Royal Palace this morning and the announcement would be made in a few
days.

Earlier the day, Samak appeared at a loss for word by
saying he could not comment at this juncture on why Puea Pandin Party
leader Suwit Khunkitti abruptly withdrew from the coalition alliance on
Tuesday's evening.


Samak refused to confirm or deny that he was about to remove Suwit
from the Cabinet line-up and that he allocated only one ministerial
seat under the Puea Pandin quota.

Source: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/30/politics/politics_30079358.php

Supreme Court decides to consider the Exim Bank loan case against Thaksin

Supreme Court decides to consider the Exim Bank loan case against Thaksin


The Supreme Court ruled on
Wednesday to consider the Exim Bank loan case filed by Assets
Examination Committee against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.



The high court's Criminal Division of Political Office Holders has scheduled September 16 for the first hearing of witnesses.

AEC
accused Thaksin of abusing his position to order a Bt1 billion increase
in the amount of loans to Burma, allegedly for the benefit of his
family's satellite and broadband businesses.

A total of
Bt4 billion was extended to the Burmese government to improve its
infrastructure and telecom sector in 2004. This came with the condition
that the Burmese government purchase materials from the Shinawatra
family's Shin Corp.

This is a third graft case linked to
Thaksin. His first litigation is the Ratchadapisek land case and the
second is the lottery case.

From: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/30/politics/politics_30079363.php


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