Saksayam accused of profiting through proxy shareholder
The opposition is seeking the removal of Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob from office, accusing him of winning construction contracts from the Transport Ministry via a proxy in violation of the constitution.
Pheu Thai party and opposiion leader Cholnan Srikaew on Wednesday submitted a letter to House Speaker Chuan Leekpai accompanied by what he said was documented evidence against Mr Saksayam.
Mr Chuan was asked to petition the Constitutional Court to consider removing Mr Saksayam from office, both as transport minister and as an MP, and stripping him off the right to run in an election allegfed for violation of Section 144 of the constitution regarding annual expenditure budget deliberating procedures.
According to the opposition leader, Mr Saksayam was previously a major shareholder of a construction company. He had signed the shares over to a company employee, but remained the de facto owner. The employee did not have the “potential” to be a shareholder, he said.
The company had won several contracts worth billions of baht in total from the state-owned Transport Company, which Mr Saksayam oversees as the minister in charge, according to the opposition leader.
Pheu Thai MP Pattana Sapso (Sakon Nakhon), who took part in the grilling of Mr Saksayam during a no-confidence debate, said he had a video showing important evidence against the transport minister. It would be used during the coming general debate against the government that will conclude without a vote under Section 152 of the constitution.
Dr Cholnan said the general debate was likely to be held from Feb 15, as suggested by the cabinet. He said the opposition was not worried the government would seek to avoid it by engineering a lack of a quorum in the House, because that would be in breach of the constitution.