BANGKOK: Suspended Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra appeared in court on Thursday to testify in a case seeking her removal from office over her handling of a border dispute with Cambodia.
The Constitutional Court will rule next Friday on whether she should be ousted for allegedly failing her duties during a leaked phone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen.
Paetongtarn stands accused of not properly representing Thailand’s interests during the call, which focused on the brewing border conflict between the two neighbouring nations.
The court had suspended her from office last month and summoned her to answer questions on her 39th birthday.
She arrived at court in a black business suit, smiling and greeting reporters alongside her top adviser Prommin Lertsuridej, who is also named in the case.
The controversy centres on her June conversation with Hun Sen, Cambodia’s longtime ruler and father of its current premier.
During the call, Paetongtarn addressed Hun Sen as “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent”, triggering outrage in Thailand.
Conservative lawmakers accused her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining Thailand’s powerful military institution.
The main partner in her ruling coalition walked out in protest at her conduct, nearly collapsing her government.
A group of senators filed a petition arguing Paetongtarn breached constitutional provisions requiring “evident integrity” and “ethical standards” among ministers.
If removed, she would become the third Shinawatra ousted early as premier, following her father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck, both deposed in military coups.
Thai politics has been dominated for two decades by conflict between the conservative elite and the Shinawatra clan.
The leaked call, released online by Hun Sen, plunged Thai-Cambodian relations into turmoil and sparked military clashes that killed more than 40 people in June.
Some 300,000 residents were forced to flee their homes along the border during the deadliest military confrontation between the neighbours in decades. – AFP
