NationThailand-Aug 14
The Constitutional Court on Wednesday unseated Srettha Thavisin from the post of prime minister, stating in its verdict that he lacked integrity to hold the top government post because of his decision to appoint an unqualified person as one of his Cabinet members. The nine Constitutional Court judges voted 5:4 to remove Srettha from office immediately and his Cabinet became a caretaker one pending the appointment of a new prime minister. In their verdict, the judges said Srettha clearly showed lack of integrity when he decided to appoint Pichit Cheunban as a PM’s Office minister in his Cabinet reshuffle on April 27 this year, despite knowing that the appointee was disqualified for the post as he was dishonest and had been jailed in 2008 for allegedly attempting to bribe Supreme Court officials. The court took up a petition by a group of 40 outgoing senators who accused Srettha of breaching the ethical standards for political office holders by appointing Pichit as a Cabinet member despite his questionable background. The former senators did not attend the verdict reading and Srettha sent PM’s secretary-general Prommin Lertusuridej to hear the verdict on his behalf. The court noted that the Constitution has formulated mechanisms to check and prevent persons without ethical standards and good governance from running the country’s administration. The court said they found it unreasonable for Srettha to claim that he was a businessman and had limited knowledge and experience in law and politics to realize that Pichit was not qualified for a Cabinet post. The verdict said as the government leader, Srettha should have used his common sense and as a sane person realized that Pichit clearly lacked integrity to become a Cabinet member because he and two accomplices were once jailed for six months for trying to bribe court officials. Read more at: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/politics/40040572
