By Thai Newsroom Reporters
FORMER PALANG PRACHARATH MP SIRA Jenjaka might be put into jail and banned from politics for many years following yesterday’s ruling of the Constitutional Court to deprive him of his MP status, according to Thai Liberal Party leader Seripisut Temiyavej.
Seripisut commented that the deposed MP of the ruling party could probably be punished with a maximum of 10 years in prison, a maximum of 200,000 baht in fine and a maximum of a 20-year ban from politics if found to have made a false statement about his personal history when he applied to contest the election for MP two and a half years ago.
Sira had apparently intended to conceal from the Election Commission the fact that a court had convicted him of money fraud in 1995, which he had earlier perpetrated, and would otherwise have denied him the right to run for MP in the first place, according to the Thai Liberal Party leader.
Seripisut who had petitioned the Constitutional Court to hand down the retroactive loss of MP status to Sira pointed out that the deposed lawmaker had deliberately filed the untruthful history of himself to the polling agency in sheer disregard for the court verdict on the fraud charges earlier delivered to him. Given criminal conviction by court, no person is legally qualified to contest an election at any level in Thailand.
A by-election for MP will be held to find a replacement for Sira in Laksi/Chatuchak constituency of Bangkok within 45 days as of yesterday.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will demand that Sira return some eight million baht in monthly pay, House meeting allowance and travel allowance calculated from March 2019 when he began to do his legislative duties until this month, said a House official.
The taxpayer’s money earlier paid by the House to Sira included 113,560 baht in monthly salary and entitlement pay for the deposed lawmaker and 15,000 – 20,000 baht in monthly salary for each of his former seven assistants at parliament, the official said.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Former Palang Pracharth MP Sira Jenjaka.
Home Page: Thai Liberal Party leader Seripisut Temiyavej. Photos: Matichon
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