Cope Tiger is an annual multilateral aerial exercise aimed at improving combat readiness and multinational interoperability between Singapore Air Force, Royal Thai Air Force, and US Air Force, while concurrently enhancing the strong defence relations among the three countries.

Some 220 US personnel will join in the exercise along with approximately 1,000 service members from Thailand and Singapore. The multilateral exercise will involve a combined total of 76 aircraft and other air defence assets from the three participating countries.

The exercise will also include humanitarian civic assistance and cultural exchange programmes in Nakhon Ratchasima and Lop Buri, including mobile medical care and dental care units, donations of sports equipment, and a lunch with schoolchildren.

The trilateral Humanitarian Civic Assistance programmes conducted during Cope Tiger 2017 will help promote good relationships between the three countries’ forces and Thai communities near Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base.

The annual Cope Tiger exercise series aims to demonstrate US commitment to its partners and the region and to address regional security challenges while ensuring freedom of the seas through multilateral collaboration.

Pol General Dechnarong Suthichanbancha presided over the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with the insurance body at the Metropolitan Police Bureau headquarters on Friday. Metropolitan chief Pol LtGeneral Sanit Mahathavorn was among those in the audience.

The project would allow people to simply take a photo when their car collided with another vehicle and leave the scene. In a move to ease the capital’s notorious congestion, there would be no need to wait for either the police or insurance staff to arrive to survey the crash.

Frank Cuesta’s campaign on Change.org was addressed to the National Council for Peace and Order. He expected to solicit one million signatures and is planning to create an Instagram account: freeyuyee_official soon.

The hashtag #Freeyuyee is trending around the world, particularly in Spain, although Thai users appear to be paying little attention to the campaign.

Yuyee’s fate has drawn much attention from Spaniards because of Costa’s campaign. A Thai tour agent said her clients from Spain asked her about Yuyee and criticised the Thai justice system.

Many Thai users discussed the detail of Yuyee’s case with some wondering why she received such a harsh punishment.

Some said she was given the 15 years because she was found guilty of smuggling, not possession, which had a lesser jail term.

The Criminal Court initially gave her a 20-year jail sentence but later commuted it to 15 years and three months after she gave useful information to investigators. She was also fined Bt1.5 million.

Yuyee, or Chatchaya Ramos, was denied bail from both courts and has already been detained for three years.

The campaign raised doubts about the information surrounding her arrest on November 10, 2012, as well as the police investigation.

The information from Yuyee’s side suggests she was set up and the case stemmed from her husband’s conflicts with influential figures concerning the smuggling of wild animals.

The campaign also gave some details about Yuyee’s life in prison. Her bail requests during the trials in the three courts were denied, making some question the motives behind the case.

Yuyee had a prior record of using drugs, which was said to have led to the harsh penalty. However she said in an interview that she had not used drugs for more than 10 years before being arrested.

The campaign went viral on Facebook and Twitter, but her chances of release seem slim. Some observers said that as her case went through three courts and the Supreme Court upheld the sentence of the Appeals Court there is no way to revive her case, unless there is sufficient new evidence for a retrial.

PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong to overhaul the Revenue Code which has been in force since the late 1930s, an informed source said.

Prayut made the move during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting as members pondered how to collect back taxes from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Finance Ministry is expected to begin the task next week by consulting with the National Legislative Assembly’s whip Somchai Sawaengkarn and the PM’s Office Minister Suvit Maesincee, said the source.

The committee will then set up a draft bill which will be sent to the Cabinet and State Council for vetting. If it goes as planned, the bill will then be submitted for debate in Parliament.

Prayut wants it to become law during his term of office, according to the source.

The key points in the overhaul of the Revenue Code include making it simple, limiting tax officials’ discretionary power, reviewing tax allowances and tax assessment deadlines.

“The principle goal is simplicity, so we have to make our tax law achieve this goal,” said the source.

“The income tax assessment deadlines or statute of limitations should also be consistent with deadlines of tariffs and excise laws which have already been reviewed recently”, the source said. However, it will not change personal and corporate income tax rates nor change the VAT rate, the source added.

Over the last 30 years, there has been no big change in the Revenue Code, only minor amendments from time to time, said the source.

Economists and tax experts support the move, saying there are several loopholes in the current law.

‘Inconsistent interpretations’

“The biggest issue of the current law is inconsistent interpretation |by involved parties, resulting in frustrated taxpayers and tax injustice,” said Sakon Varanyuwatana, dean of Thammasat University’s Faculty of Economics. Anthony Visate Loh, a tax expert at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos Advisory Co, echoed Sakon’s view saying that the law gave too much discretionary power to tax officials, the director-general of the Revenue Department in particular.

“This makes the interpretation of tax law inconsistent. The successor of the director-general often interpreted the law differently from his predecessor, making tax collection practice inconsistent and it often hurt interests of businesses unfairly,” Anthony said.

In a related development, former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for fair treatment when asked about government efforts to collect back taxes from her brother Thaksin.

She said she did not understand why the government wanted to collect back taxes, although the Supreme Court had seized Thaksin’s assets worth Bt46 billion.

“It seems to me that the government is purposely going after one party. I hope justice will prevail and the law must be applied to everyone equally. The law should not be used by one party against another party. People expect that those who enforce the law will do it without discrimination,” Yingluck said.

Yingluck spoke out after Thaksin’s son Panthongtae asked what more the government wanted from the Shinawatra family after the legal case had been disposed of eight years ago.

Responding to the statement, Prayut said that Panthongtae should not complain about the government but should be prepared to speak in court.

Prayut also said he had asked the Finance Ministry to investigate why tax officials did not collect taxes from Thaksin. “I want to make the tax issue clear for the public I do not target anyone in particular,” he said.

In response to the Auditor-General demanding that tax officials collect back taxes from another 60 politicians, Prayut said the government will help officials to do their jobs.

Justice Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana said yesterday the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) would continue its efforts to bring the fugitive monk to justice.

In addition, authorities plan to pursue criminal investigations against numerous suspects who are allegedly connected with various wrongdoings concerning Dhammakaya Temple and its supporters.

Inquiries into money laundering, possession of ill-gotten assets, embezzlement and other criminal activities are under way in connection with the bankrupt Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC) scandal.

Investigators are preparing to summon Alisa Asavabhokin, the daughter of property tycoon Anant Asavabhokin, for questioning in connection with her ownership of a large plot of land where a major building is situated in the Dhammakaya Temple compound.

According to the land title deed, Alisa bought eight tracts of land with a combined area of 57 rai worth Bt298 million, from Supachai Srisupak-aksorn, the former chairman of the bankrupt KCUC, in 2013.

The deal took place just a few days before Supachai’s assets were seized by authorities following criminal charges of money laundering and possession of ill-gotten assets.

DSI sources said Alisa would be questioned because the land was later used to construct the Boonruksa Building, which became a hospital, inside the temple compound.

Investigators say they have also found the money trail that shows funds were diverted from the temple to Alisa to buy the land on behalf of the embattled temple.

Nicknamed Taeng, Alisa is the middle child of Anant, the major shareholder of Land and House and Home Pro whose combined assets total Bt97 billion. Her father has long been a key supporter of the Dhammakaya Temple.

Alisa, who got a masters degree in linguistics from New York University, said in an earlier interview that she chose not to enter the family’s property development business.

After working for a few years at Assumption University and the International Labour Organisation’s office, she turned to do what she enjoys most: the spa and yoga businesses under the Lullaby brand.

Last year, Alisa also came under the media spotlight when her name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers as director and shareholder of Lullaby Holdings Ltd, an offshore account set up in the British Virgin Islands, along with another offshore holding firm controlled by another of Anant’s children.

The resolution was made at Thursday’s meeting on Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) policy at the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi.

The meeting, presided over by Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, designated 15 public hospitals to take referral patients.

These hospitals are Nopparatrajathanee, Lerdsin, Rajavithi, Taksin, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration General (Klang Hospital), Charoenkrung Pracharak, Phramongkutklao, Veterans General, Bhumibol Adulyadej, Somdejprapinklao, Police General, Faculty of Medicine Vajira, Ramathibodi, Chulalongkorn and Siriraj.

If the first group of hospitals were full or the patients needed special treatment, another five specialist hospitals would provide backup. These are Priest Hospital, Central Chest Institute of Thailand, Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, National Cancer Institute and Prasat Neurological Institute.

Five other hospitals in nearby provinces will also offer backup. These hospitals are Pathum Thani, Pranangklao, Mettapracharak Watraikhing (Wat Rai Khing), Nakhon Pathom and Samut Songkhram’s Somdej Phraphutthaloetla Hospital.

National Institute for Emergency Medicine officials said they would send out a letter asking for cooperation and arrange the signing of a memorandum of understanding with these hospitals to move the UCEP policy forward.

UCEP aims to allow all emergency patients to seek treatment at nearby public and private hospitals without having to pay treatment bills in the first 72 hours – after which the patients would be referred to the hospitals their healthcare schemes had registered with.

The policy is not yet in effect throughout the country pending approval of the Sanatorium Act’s three related ministerial regulations and publication in the Royal Gazette for implementation.

Jatupat has been charged and remains in detention after sharing a BBC article deemed to be insulting to the monarchy last December. He was accused of violating the lese majeste and computer crime laws.

He was briefly released on bail, but his bail was revoked after investigators filed a complaint with the court alleging he had violated his bail condition.

His lawyers have filed several bail requests since then.

On Thursday, they made another attempt to allow Jatupat to appear for the exam outside the detention centre but failed, as the court rejected their request.