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The Ombudsman's office on Thursday ordered the Foreign Ministry to rethink its decision to issue a Thai passport to Thaksin Shinawatra, saying it may cause damage to the bureaucracy.
The ruling was in response to a petition filed by New Politics Party leader Somsak Kosaisuk early this year.
The former yellow-shirt co-leader asked the office to determine whether Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul and the Foreign Ministry had violated the law or abused their authority in returning Thaksin's passport.
According to the ruling, Thaksin was sentenced in absentia to two years in jail in 2008 by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders and is a convict who is avoiding a jail sentence.
Thaksin was prohibited from traveling overseas unless the court permitted him on a case-by-case basis. He was also on the ministry’s list of people banned from leaving the country.
However, the ministry said the criteria used to withhold Thaksin's passport were not complete and the return of the passport was to comply with Foreign Minister Surapong’s policy.
The Foreign Ministry issued the passport to Thaksin on Oct 26 last year, a day after the convicted fugitive had applied for a new one at the Royal Thai Embassy in Dubai.
The Ombudsman regarded the ministry’s failure to withhold Thaksin’s request and seek advice from concerned agencies to examine and confirm his status and court cases as a mistake that may cause damage to the country’s bureaucratic system.
The office directed the ministry to revise its decision on returning Thakin’s passport and continue to strictly follow its passport regulations.
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