NLA likely to vote against impeachment of Thai politicians

[webfact]

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
NLA likely to vote against impeachment of politicians
The Nation

Assembly to debate today on alleged offences by ex-Parliament chief, deputy

BANGKOK: -- It is likely that the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) will reject the impeachment case against two top politicians from the previous government over alleged constitutional offences, a source said yesterday.

The NLA will today debate before seeking a vote on whether to consider the case against former Parliament president Somsak Kiatsuranont and his then-deputy Nikom Wairatpanich.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) found the pair guilty of allegedly violating the constitution by pushing for amendments on the composition of the Senate. The agency made the recommendation for the Senate to launch impeachment proceedings before the Senate was dissolved after the May 22 coup.

"There is a probability that the assembly will vote against impeaching the two, as there is no provision that it can take recourse to in order to prosecute them,'' the source said.

Though some lawmakers said the offences could be based on the NACC Act, there was no provision in the Act that mentioned the constitutional offences allegedly committed by Somsak and Nikom, he said.

The legal debate surrounding an impeachment move against the two politicians boiled down to whether the NLA has the courage to remove evil from the country's politics, People's Democratic Reform Committee co-leader Thaworn Senneam said yesterday. "The National Council for Peace and Order appointed the NLA so the agency could help eradicate evil in politics," he said.

"It now depends on whether the assembly is brave enough to cut off the tumour. It also depends on whether the NLA members are sincere in tackling the country's illness or if it will just be a complacent paper tiger."

Thaworn said as a legal specialist, he believed the two politicians must be prosecuted to prevent others from committing the same alleged offence.

NLA whip Somchai Swangkarn said there were three possibilities:

The first possibility was for the NLA to impeach Somsak and Nikom while the second alternative was to reject the impeachment because of legal technicalities.

He said if the latter happened, the NLA would debate on whether the constitutional charges pressed by the NACC be dropped and the impeachment proceedings stopped.

As a third possibility, the NLA could seek to exempt its regulations that stipulated the impeachment of a politician must be placed on the NLA's agenda within 30 days of the case being filed and suspends the impeachment proceedings until the new Parliament was elected.

Somchai added that there was no question the NLA had the authority to impeach a politician because Article 5 of the interim charter empowered it to make the final decision in any legal dispute.

Nikom has threatened to take the NLA to court if it impeaches him, saying the alleged offence was filed under the last charter, which is now defunct.

Lawmakers have argued that although the 2007 charter is now defunct, provisions 58 and 64 of the National Anti-Corruption Act 1999 are still in effect.

The provisions stipulate that political office-holders who are believed to be unusually rich, corrupt, abuse their authority or violate the charter or any other law must face impeachment by the Senate.

Pheu Thai Party MPs have called on the NLA to make a prudent decision on the matter, saying the assembly should refrain from creating further political conflict.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/NLA-likely-to-vote-against-impeachment-of-politici-30245629.html


-- The Nation 2014-10-17

[wackybacky]

Here we go... Typical Thailand.

Corruption is alive and well and not going anywhere fast. The law is for the poor, it always has been and it always will be.

Well done Prayuth, what a grand mess you made in an already messed up pathetic excuse for a country.

But it's OK.... You got all your military mates' noses in the trough, that's the main thing achieved.

[EricBerg]

Business as usual. (Thai) history repeats itself.

[Eric Loh]

Another egg in the face for the NACC. Should stop all the self serving agenda and start being an impartial corruption agency.

[hansgruber]

I'm afraid a generation of old cronies need to pass away before Thailand becomes a civil society with accountability.

Not in my lifetime.

Sent from my LG-D858

[NongKhaiKid]

Is this just another example of how Thai bigwigs don't really go after each other as one day they might need the favour returned ?

[Chris Lawrence]

The new politicians have a lot to learn from the last lot of politicians? The current crop is in their learning phase.

Is there a difference between the last Government and this current regime?

[northernjohn]

Here we go... Typical Thailand.

Corruption is alive and well and not going anywhere fast. The law is for the poor, it always has been and it always will be.

Well done Prayuth, what a grand mess you made in an already messed up pathetic excuse for a country.

But it's OK.... You got all your military mates' noses in the trough, that's the main thing achieved.

You are not making any sense.

First you admit they are moving then you bash them as if they were doing nothing.

Have your morning coffee then repost it. You can't have it both ways.

Or better still pretend Yingluck is still in and say well she is still in her first 6 months so I will give her room.

[Rimmer]

A post with messed up quotes has been removed

[h90]

I'm afraid a generation of old cronies need to pass away before Thailand becomes a civil society with accountability.

Not in my lifetime.

Sent from my LG-D858

Well they'll be replaced by new cronies. One Thaksin get old, but the next one will arrive.....

[Suriya4]

Amending the constitution is a crime.

Tearing it is not.

[Emster23]

"violating the constitution by pushing for amendments on the composition of the Senate."

Ok, in democracies elected officials promote various bills, right? And some get passed. Then perhaps there is a legal challenge to that law (I think of flag burning in USA, which was made a crime). Take it through the court system and courts decide if unconstitutional or not (flag burning is free speech, law revoked). We do not arrest and impeach those representatives who sponsored those bills. We leave it up to the voters to decide at next election if they want those reps to continue in office.

Oh yeah, let voters decide.... can't have that in Thailand, as last coup made so clear.

[rubl]

Another egg in the face for the NACC. Should stop all the self serving agenda and start being an impartial corruption agency.

Now this needs an explanation. What eggs in the face? No decision yet I think and a possible egg in the face only after they listen to the Pheu Thai advise to make a 'prudent' decision rather than one based on laws and so.

BTW the OP with ""There is a probability that the assembly will vote against impeaching the two, as there is no provision that it can take recourse to in order to prosecute them,'' the source said." also needs explanation. Uf the impeachment is legal, based on evidence etc., not impeaching because there is no clear follow up is like not convicting as the prison is full already.

[smutcakes]

I presume they all are more worried about the old what goes around comes around phenomenon.