Thai Democrats Brace For Next Battle

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Democrats brace for next battle

By THE NATION

All eyes are back on the Constitution Court today as preliminary proceedings begin in the Democrats' second party-dissolution case, with the judges' decision on how to proceed certain to dictate the immediate future of Thai politics.

The case, in which the Democrats are accused of receiving illegal financial contributions worth Bt258 million from cement manufacturer TPI Polene, is intertwined with the alleged misuse of a state fund, a case the court dropped 10 days ago. The judges will have to decide whether additional testimony is required and/or how much, and it will become clear after today's session when a ruling can be expected.

The Democrats' lawyers have sought to have the second case dropped, arguing the political party registrar did not have a legal opinion on the case before submitting it to the Election Commission. Although this argument on the role of the party registrar is the main reason why the Constitution Court dismissed the first case, many legal observers believe it will not have a great bearing on the TPI case, which is "different" from the first one.

As of now, seven Constitution Court judges will form the panel to decide on the Bt258-million case, as opposed to the six-man panel who ruled on the first case. The additional judge, Charoon Intajarn, withdrew from the first case during the video clip controversy that raised doubts about the court's integrity.

The court resumes its crucial role just as the legal opinions of the six judges in the first case, which involved Bt29 million state-subsidised campaign spendings, have been made public. The six judges voted 4-2 to have the case dropped. The two minority judges ruled that the case should proceed and they found the Democrats guilty of misusing state funds.

Interestingly, both minority judges did not rule that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva must be banned from politics. However, one of them, court president Chat Chonlaworn, did have an opinion that former Democrat leader Banyat Bantadtan and former party secretary general Pradit Pattaraprasit had to be banned for five years.

According to the two minority judges' final opinions, the ruling party had to be dissolved, and party executives prohibited from setting up a new political party for five years, during which they also would not be able to sit in the executive board of any party.

The second minority judge, Boonsong Kulbupar, also had the opinion that the Democrats failed to clear themselves of the allegations about suspicious financial transactions related to the Bt29-million campaign funds. The judge was of the opinion that the Democrats did produce campaign posters, but money was received and spent in a murky manner, suggesting the request for state funds was only a smokescreen to facilitate unscrupulous transactions.

Boonsong, who will also be in the panel hearing the second case, believed that Thongchai Khonsrichai, Pradit's cousin, played a go-between role in irregular transactions involving the Democrat Party.

The four majority judges in the first case did not only dismiss the first case on technical grounds, but also shared opinions that the Democrat Party did not misuse the funds it requested from the Election Commission to produce election campaign posters.

Legal analysts and Democrat sources believe that the second case is "weaker" than the Bt29-million one, partly because there is no evidence that can link the party directly to the Bt258 million TPI money, and partly because TPI has never been ruled guilty of laundering or siphoning it.

-- The Nation 2010-12-09

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Court Dismisses Second Dissolution Case Against Thai Democrat

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