Thailand’s anti-corruption body has decided to investigate suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for alleged ethics violations over last month’s leaked phone call with Cambodia’s influential former leader Hun Sen.
According to a report in The Nation, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) yesterday voted unanimously to launch an investigation into whether the 38-year-old violated ethical standards and intentionally abused her power during the phone conversation. The June 15 call, which related to the ongoing border dispute between the two nations, was subsequently leaked by the Cambodian government.
In the leaked recording, Paetongtarn appeared to kowtow to Hun Sen, whom she referred to as “uncle.” She also vowed to “take care of whatever” the 72-year-old politician needed, and criticized a prominent Thai military commander for inciting anti-government sentiment on the border issue and for being “completely aligned” with her political opponents.
The call has prompted calls for Paetongtarn’s resignation, from both sides of Thai politics, while ultra-royalist agitators took to the streets to demand that she step down. On July 1, the Constitutional Court suspended Paetongtarn from office while it investigates her conduct in the call, following a petition from 36 conservative senators who argued that her conduct during the phone call showed a lack of responsibility and integrity and undermined the country’s sovereignty. The complaint to the NACC was filed by the same group of senators.
The NACC probe will run in parallel with the Constitutional Court’s investigation, and a guilty verdict by either body could see Paetongtarn removed from office. The Constitutional Court gave Paetongtarn, who is currently serving in the cabinet as minister of culture, 15 days to submit her defense statement. Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who is filling in as acting premier during Paetongtarn’s suspension, said yesterday that the Thai leader will “probably” ask the court to extend the deadline by 15 days.
As The Nation reported, the NACC will now set up an inquiry panel to review the claims made in the petition, and then submit its findings to the full NACC. “If the commission concludes there are sufficient grounds to support the allegations, the case will be forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General for prosecution,” the newspaper stated. The inquiry panel has up to two years to complete the investigation, although in practice, such cases are usually resolved more quickly.
The announcement increases the political pressure on Paetongtarn, who was appointed prime minister last August after the Constitutional Court removed her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, from office, also for an ethics violation. Conservative opponents of the Shinawatra family have been gunning for Paetongtarn in recent months, as border tensions with Cambodia have increased. Critics accuse the 38-year-old of inexperience and of acting as a proxy for her influential father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who returned to Thailand in 2023 after more than 15 years in self-exile.
The NACC’s decision is unsurprising; the body is one of a series of unelected institutions (others include the Constitutional Court and the Election Commission) that the conservative establishment has historically used against its perceived enemies, including a long line of Thaksin-aligned governments. But it does suggest that the verdict is essentially already in, and that the Thai leader’s chances of surviving the current crisis are next to zero. (I have previously discussed what might happen in that eventuality here.)
Even if Paetongtarn miraculously survives these two investigations, the Bhumjaithai party, which defected from her coalition after the leaked call with Hun Sen, has pledged to file a motion of no-confidence in her government. Royalist pressure groups have also pledged to mount public protests against her government, of a similar nature to those that accompanied the removal, by military or judicial coup, a series of previous pro-Thaksin governments. The question now is less whether Paetongtarn’s tenure will be brought to a premature end than when and how.