The government filed charges on Wednesday accusing Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit of lese majeste for alleging that the procurement was late and inadequate. Thanathorn also said there was possible favouritism in the awarding of the main contract.
The criticisms relate to the monarchy because most of the vaccines that
Lese majeste, or insulting the monarchy, is punishable by three to 15 years’ imprisonment for each offence. Thanathorn was also charged with violating the Computer Crime Act.
The government denies it mishandled vaccine procurement.
Later this year, Siam Bioscience is to produce 200 million doses of the vaccine developed by
Thanathorn said details of the contract should be made public. The deal involves the company, the
Officials from the Prime Minister’s office and the
Thanathorn called the charges politically motivated at a news conference Thursday.
“When we are questioning the fact that the Thai public would receive low vaccination coverage and receive it late, or whether or not the government has given preferential treatment to a certain private company, this is what I got back. This is what I got," he said.
Thanathorn said
“The government has given huge financial support worth
Thanathorn is the former leader of the dissolved
Thanathorn was forced out of
“I believe all the cases against me, not only this one, are politically motivated. I am 42. I was in politics for two years. For 40 years of my life, I had never been charged and never been prosecuted, not even one case. Not even one case. But since I started in politics two years ago, I have had countless cases against me,” he said.
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