NLA begins impeachment of Somsak

[webfact]

NLA begins impeachment of Somsak



BANGKOK: -- The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) held a meeting this morning whether to sack former education minister Somsak Prisanananthakul on unusual wealth charge brought against him by the National Anti Corruption Commission (NACC) for not declaring his 16-million baht home.

The meeting which is part of the impeachment process of the NLA allows the former minister to defend himself this morning in eight questions that are asked by designated NLA members.

The NACC representative is also given permission to clarify and answer five questions to be asked by the designated members in making the accusations against the former minister.

After today’s impeachment session, the NLA will vote tomorrow whether it will remove Mr Somsak from his position as education minister or not.

One NACC member admitted there was no insubstantial evidence to rule him guilty of corruption but his concealment of his 16-million baht home was against the corruption law.

He could not produce evidence where he obtained money to build the home, therefore he was subject to be unusually rich, he said.

During the clarification and answering the NLA members’ submitted questions, Mr Somsak said he did not declare the home because it was not in his name, but his wife, and his colleagues also told him it was not necessary to declare.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/nla-begins-impeachment-of-somsak


-- Thai PBS 2015-11-05

[huangnon]

Small potatoes for Cabinet ministers.. Must be a bit of a purge going on.

[zaphod reborn]

Technical violation, but it is illegal to file a false assets and liability statement. Organic Act on Counter Corruption, B.E. 2542 (1999), Section 32 required Somsak to file a declaration of his assets and liabilities within 30 days of taking office, and within 30 days of vacating office. Somsak had previously served as Speaker of the House and had been an MP for about 13 years, so he knew the rules, as he previously had to file declarations.

Section 34 of the Organic Act states that someone who fails to disclose facts which should have been disclosed, must immediately vacate office and is banned from holding a political position for a period of 5 years. Section 119 provides a penalty of a term of imprisonment not exceeding 6 months and/or a fine not exceeding 10,000 baht.

So, if he is found not to have become unusually wealthy while in office, the penalty will be fairly light, and could even be suspended. It will be nice to see a MOE top level pig get grilled by the Court for assets he and his family acquired while gorging at the trough.

Edited November 5, 2015 by zaphod reborn

[zaphod reborn]

double post - please delete

Edited November 5, 2015 by zaphod reborn