The Central Administrative Court has turned down former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s second petition for a forfeiture injunction, paving the way for an immediate seizure of her assets under the Finance Ministry’s administrative order.
In October 2016, the Finance Ministry issued the administrative order demanding she pay 35 billion baht in damages incurred by the rice-pledging programme.
Two months later, Yingluck filed a lawsuit with the Central Administrative Court against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the finance minister and finance permanent secretary, alleging they had illegitimately issued the administrative order and asking the court to revoke it.
Ms Yingluck also filed the first petition for a forfeiture injunction until the final ruling but the court dismissed it in April last year, saying the Finance Ministry had yet to start executing the order so there were no serious damages to her.
After the Legal Execution Department started freezing some of her bank accounts, she again sought a relief petition.
The court on Monday started by explaining that three conditions need to be met for it to grant an injunction. The order in question is likely to be illegitimate; the order will cause serious damages if it continues to be enforced; and the injunction does not obstruct public administration or public services.
In this case, the court said although Ms Yingluck claimed in her injunction petition that the administrative order was illegitimate, the court has yet to decide on that.
“At this stage, it’s not possible for us to decide whether the order is illegitimate or not [because the trial is ongoing]. Since the conditions that allow us to grant the injunction have not been met, we don't have the power to approve the injunction,” the court said.
The minority judges view the injunction should be partially approved by protecting her family’s house and two land plots where it is located on Soi Yothin Pattana 3, Bung Kum district, Bangkok, as well as all household items.
Also on Monday, Ruenwadee Suwanmongkol, director-general of the Legal Execution Department, which is responsible for seizing assets, said after the court ruling, her department would wait for the Finance Ministry, as the damaged party, to locate Yingluck’s assets and send requests to forfeit them.
