MFP leader says his suspension was unfair
PUBLISHED : 16 Aug 2023 at 04:00
Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat yesterday questioned the motives of the Election Commission (EC) for investigating his shareholding in the defunct broadcaster iTV now that an inquiry panel has recommended it drop the case.
Mr Pita raised questions about the EC over the case following reports on Monday that the EC’s inquiry panel recommended the election watchdog drop the charge that he violated Section 151 of the Election Act for allegedly holding shares in a media firm while filing candidacy in the May 14 election.
“The probe panel has provided an important reason that iTV is not operating nor earns income from its media business. This shows that I am not at fault,” Mr Pita said on Facebook.
“I want to reaffirm suspicion that my TV shareholding case is politically motivated. I had held the shares in question while performing my MP duty for four years, but complaints were made when I was a prime ministerial candidate.
“The case was submitted to the Constitutional Court a few days before my nomination as prime minister was made in parliament. There were many pieces of abnormal evidence that there were attempts to revive iTV firm, which had ceased broadcasting for over 10 years to be ‘media shares’.”
As the committee found he was not guilty, Mr Pita said he wanted to ask the EC whether the panel had made a resolution before the EC submitted its petition to the Constitutional Court. The panel gathered evidence, questioned witnesses, and concluded that iTV was not operating as a media firm. However, the EC still submitted its petition to the court, ignoring facts and guidelines that the court had laid earlier about earnings and sources of income to decide which firms were operating as media organisations, said Mr Pita.
He also asked the EC whether it was fair to ask the court to suspend him as an MP pending a court ruling. Intouch Holdings, the major iTV shareholder, and iTV had financial documents that the defunct media firm had stopped broadcasting and had no income from its media operations, said Mr Pita. He cited previous media shareholdings of about 60 MPs in 2020 whom the court had not ordered suspended.
“But in my case, I was suspended from MP duty. I want society to consider whether the suspension of my duties was fair or not,” Mr Pita said.