Thaksin wins appellate review to sue Kaewsun

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has won an appellate review and will get his day in court suing a former graft buster Kaewsun Atibodhi for libel.

The Appeals Court on Wednesday ruled to overturn a lower court's dismissal verdict and to order the start of libel trail involving Kaewsun.

Thaksin instructed his legal team to launch the court battle in 2007 after Kaewsan, then member of the Asset Examination Committee, had given an interview aired by Channel 5 outlining graft violations linked to the former prime minister.

As plaintiff, Thaksin contends Kaewsun to have defamed him and abused the anti-graft law to tarnish his reputation.

The Criminal Court found the case to lack the merit for a judicial review, ruling out trial.

The appellate decision said the plaintiff brought up valid legal arguments on libel despite the lack of grounds to suspect Kaewsan's abuse of the antigraft law.

The high court then instructed for trial to commence focusing on libel and dismissed charges of abusive citing of antigraft provisions.