Dr Panitan: Govt not yet received UDD’s petition

BANGKOK, 19 August 2009 (NNT) – Acting Government Spokesman Dr Panitan Wattanayagorn said the Government had not yet received a petition by the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) submitted to the Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary on 17 August.

Dr Panitan stated that the Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary had yet to forward the petition to the Government since it was being checked. He added that all signatures would be verified if the petition was considered as a royal pardon petition.

Regarding Puea Thai MP from Chiang Mai Surapong Towichakchaikul’s claim that there were relatives of the ousted PM having signed the petition, Dr Panitan said that relatives of a convict qualified to lodge a petition for him must be his close ones only. The matter would be inspected by the Corrections Department, Dr Panitan said.

The acting spokesman elaborated that normally the petition process took about 2 months but the UDD’s petition should take longer to inspect since it had over 3 million signatures. He confirmed that the Government did not try to stall the process as alleged by the group.