Police revokes arrest warrant for senior graft buster

"Sunai Manomaiudom is a senior official with the established whereabouts of his office, poses no risk for flight, and has cooperated with the police investigation three times relating to a libel complaint filed against him, hence there is no justification to warrant the issuing of an arrest warrant," the appellate ruling said, overturning a lower court's decision.

Meanwhile, the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) has appointed Wicha Mahakhun as head of an adhoc panel that will probe Sunai's complaint that police abused their power by issuing the arrest warrant against him.

Wicha said the panel could conclude the case by the end of this month.

Sunai's lawyer Nataporn Toprayoon said his client would definitely sue the police for Bt2 billion if the NCCC ruled they abused their power by issuing the arrest warrant.

Two weeks ago, Ayutthaya police sought and received a court warrant to arrest Sunai to face charges relating to alleged libel.

The warrant was based on a complaint filed by defence lawyer Pichit Chuenban, representing former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Sunai was accused of making insulting remarks in connection with his probe against Thaksin when he was directorgeneral of the Department of Special Investigation.

Sunai is currently head of a new agency in charge of rooting out corruption involving mid and lowranking bureaucrats. A former judge, he is slated to resume his judicial career in the near future.

Many see Sunai's arrest warrant as a reprisal for his work.

Reacting to the outcome of the appellate review, Colonel Thatri Tangsophon, deputy commander of the Ayutthaya police, said he had no hard feelings about the judicial decision because he had no ulterior motive in working on his assigned case.

Sunai said that, as a legal professional, he wanted to set precedents on the issuing of warrants in order to prevent lapses of judgement. Police failed at the beginning to establish cause to suspect foul play to warrant the summonses they issued against him, he said. They later upgraded the summonses to a warrant without justification, he added.