By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT today (June 18) postponed a hearing of an impeachment lawsuit against Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin until July 10.
In the meantime, the defendant Pheu Thai-attached prime minister and the plaintiff collectively being 40 senators who had launched the surprise impeachment bid were given a 15-day time from today to file respective complementary affidavits, plus any more evidence for use in the court hearing, beginning on July 10.
Srettha who had been earlier barely spared a court order to otherwise suspend him from doing his prime-ministerial duties pending a court ruling on the impeachment case has been accused of breaching the coup junta-designed constitution and code of political ethics by naming Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer working on behalf of de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, a minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office in the latest cabinet lineup.
The senior lawmakers maintained that the prime minister was primarily supposed to learn of a lasting stigma for professional dishonesty of Thaksin’s notorious former lawyer who had been sentenced to six months in jail for an attempted bribery and contempt of the Supreme Court.
Though Pichit had already resigned as the portfolioless minister, the alleged, severe violation of the relevant laws on the part of the prime minister had been considered a fait accompli, thus prompting the impeachment case against him.
If finally found guilty and impeached by court, Srettha could possibly be deprived of his prime-ministerial status with immediate effect.
Nevertheless, the powerful Thaksin had been alleged of having clandestinely pushed for the contentious naming of his former lawyer whilst the Pheu Thai-attached prime minister had only been obliged to meet the de facto party boss’s demands.
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Top and Front Page: Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Both photos: Thai Rath
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