Monday, January 23rd, 2012
Bangkok
Opinion/ Analysis by Burin Kantabutra
Thaksin Shinawatra stressed to Khun Jatuporn Promphan (the Thai Election Commission ruled to disqualify Jatuporn on grounds that he had questionable party membership when he registered his candidacy to contest the July 3 general election) that a Cabinet appointee must be first and foremost, a person with a clean image.
Jatuporn is Awaiting a Thai Electoral Commission Decision on His Eligibility
That observation must also apply to Khun Nalinee Taveesin. Earlier on Sunday, the Democrats called for the government to reconsider the appointment of Ms. Nalinee as Prime Minister’s Office Minister, as party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said her appointment while on a U.S. Treasury Dept. blacklist was inappropriate and would potentially scare off investors.
Like Khun Jatuporn, she should wait out this Cabinet round. She stands accused by the US Treasury of “secretly supporting the kleptocratic practices of one of Africa’s most corrupt regimes” by, as the Treasury alleges, facilitating financial, real estate, and gems-related transactions on behalf of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace (like Thaksin’s ex-wife Pojamarn na Pomberja, who is and was highly regarded as Thaksin’s proxy in many financial dealings, for whether married or divorced, their fortunes and future interests are inextricably linked).
Khun Nalinee protests that relations with the Mugabes are strictly social – yet that’s highly questionable, given Thaksin’s mining businesses in Africa and Democrat spokesman Chiavanon’s report that Nalinee has expertise in mining and gems and close connections with African leaders.
Taveesin was added to the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) by the US Treasury Department
Bill Clinton’s relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky were ‘strictly social’, (although they shouldn’t have been) yet strongly interfered with his ability to govern as public attention was riveted to the scandal.
For the same reason (though to a lesser degree) Prime Minister Yingluck hardly needs a person branded as “one of the Mugabes’ cronies” representing our nation on the international stage.
To clear her name, Khun Nalinee should sue the US Government for slander for making false charges – but she hasn’t, although she’s had years to do so. Until she wins that case, she should stay in the shadows, for like Caesar’s wife, a Cabinet minister must be above suspicion.
Editor’s Note: Nalinee claiming to be only socially connected with Grace Mugabe is clearly laughable… as this is more about a ‘business relationship’ between likewise corrupt minded and greedy, aggressive regimes. Uber-wealthy Thais of her well-connected status would rarely (if ever) socialize with disreputable African despots or their immediate relatives for purely social reasons…
It’s just not the way that most upper- crust Thai society functions.
