Even though the court has ordered the justice minister to quit supervising the agency, the vote-rigging investigation will remain.
PUBLISHED: 15 May 2025 at 16: 36
Even though Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong has been suspended from the role of the agency, the Department of Special Investigation ( DSI) says it will continue to investigate allegations of vote-rigging in the Senate election from last year.
Woranan Srilam, a DSI official, claimed on Thursday that the company’s function had not been affected by the Constitutional Court’s decision on Wednesday.
The judge gave the initial approval for the investigation into election irregularities to Pol Col Tawee, who was given the order to step down from his position as deputy chairman of the particular cases committee.
According to Mr. Woranan, particular case investigators have a duty to carry out the investigation, and their responsibilities do not lie with the justice minister. The research was still advancing with regard to alleged collusion in the 2024 election. He continued,” All must go as it always does.”
Following a complaint filed in March by a group of 92 lawmakers asking the court to decide whether Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Pol Col Tawee may lose their jobs because they allegedly interfered with the Senate election process, the judge issued a ruling in their favor.
The DSI, according to the senators, has no business interfering with the Election Commission’s (EC ), which is conducting its own investigation.
The EC acknowledged the need for assistance from the DSI because the situation is so difficult and full of players.
The jury unanimously decided that Mr. Phumtham’s appointment as deputy prime minister, who oversees national security issues, was based on a lack of a reasonable suspicion.
But, it determined that Pol Col Tawee’s suspension, who had control over legal workers at the Ministry of Justice, including the DSI, was in line with his responsibilities over the DSI and the particular situations commission.
Pol Maj Woranan emphasized that legal and administrative concerns may be divided.
The DSI expressed no fear that it would face legal action if the research was going on, according to the official.
Six of the 53 lawmakers who are being investigated for vote-rigging were summonsed last week by the Election Commission and the DSI.
The DSI announced this week that it had identified up to 1,200 individuals who might have been involved in the election deception in some way or another.
The Bhumjaithai Party, the second-largest group in the state coalition, is the target of the allegations, which are directed at “blue union” senators.
The last Senate vote on June 26 resulted in some strange outcomes, most importantly a significant number of winners from Bhumjaithai’s solid electoral base.
In the face of fierce opposition from the majority of the senators, a group of original Senate candidates on the reserve list provide plants on Wednesday to display their moral support to the DSI investigators looking into the vote-rigging investigation. ( Photo: DSI)