PUBLISHED: 1 May 2024 at 06: 45
On Tuesday, activists ‘ networks submitted a petition to the Election Commission (EC ) asking them to investigate the credentials of Pichit Chuenban, the newly appointed PM’s office minister, and then turn the matter over to the Constitutional Court.
The plea was submitted by Pichit Chaimongkol, head of the Network of Students and People Reforming Thailand, and Anond Klingkaew, head of the Women’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy.
Chaimongkol claimed that because he was previously given a prison sentence, Chuenban is unfit to serve as a government secretary under Section 160 of the law. The section provides a government minister’s moral and ethical standards.
After his prison statement, Chuenban’ s attorney licensing was revoked, the head of the campaigner group said.
” Anyone who accepts a cabinet position should have a higher moral standard than others,” Chaimongkol said.
The organizations have requested that the newly appointed secretary be suspended from office pending a decision, according to him in the complaint.
He continued, claiming that the prime minister should have first examined Chuenban’s credentials and not to have asked for the name of a government minister with a dubious background for royal approval.
He added that the organizations may even request an investigation into the prime minister over his inaction in determining the qualifications of those who will serve as government ministers next week.
Questions are raised about Chuenban’s registration to serve as a government minister following his appointment as an assistant to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who likewise served as Thaksin Shinawatra’s past lawyer.
He was sentenced to prison for contempt of court in 2008 when he represented Thaksin in a contentious area event.
After they attempted to pay Supreme Court officers by handing them a paper case containing two million ringgit in income a month earlier, the Supreme Court sentenced Chuenban and two of his associates to six months in prison on June 25, 2008.
In the Ratchadaphisek property circumstance, for which Thaksin received a two-year prison sentence in 2008, all three represented Thaksin and his ex-wife, Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra.