Suspended Thai PM testifies in court ahead of ouster ruling

Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Bloomberg News on Aug 21, 2025

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Thailand’s suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra testified in court on a petition seeking her removal for alleged ethical misconduct, days before a ruling that could deepen the nation’s political crisis.

Paetongtarn, the youngest daughter of influential former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, answered questions and underwent cross-examination in an in-camera testimony at the Constitutional Court on Thursday. The secretary-general of the National Security Council, who was enlisted as a witness by Paetongtarn, also gave a testimony, according to a court statement.

Paetongtarn declined to answer media questions after the court barred witnesses from discussing the case on national security grounds.

The hearing is part of the court’s probe into allegations that Paetongtarn violated ethical standards during a phone call with former Cambodian premier Hun Sen about resolving a border dispute. The court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on Aug. 29.

Paetongtarn, who turned 39 on Thursday, was suspended from prime ministerial duties on July 1 pending the court’s review of the petition. In the controversial call, she was heard criticizing the Thai army for escalating a border standoff with the neighboring country, which later erupted into a deadly five-day conflict before a ceasefire was reached last month.

A group of senators, who filed the petition, accused Paetongtarn of siding with Cambodia and undermining the Thai armed forces, arguing she mishandled a matter of national security due to her family’s close relationship with Hun Sen — long regarded as a close ally of the Shinawatra family until the recent dispute.

If found guilty, Paetongtarn would become the third member of the Shinawatra family to be removed from office. Thaksin was toppled in a 2006 coup, while her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted by the same court in 2014, weeks before a military takeover. Paetongtarn’s immediate predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, was also dismissed by the court in 2023 for an ethics violation.

Her testimony also came a day before another politically sensitive case against Thaksin. He faces up to 15 years in jail, if convicted of royal defamation charges.

Thaksin was indicted in June last year over remarks made in a 2015 interview about the coup that ousted Yingluck’s government. He also faces prosecution under Thailand’s cybercrime law.

The Constitutional Court has instructed both Paetongtarn and her accusers to submit their closing statements by Aug. 25.