A LAWYER said in a Facebook post this morning (Sep. 24) that there is a high risk of the entire cabinet headed by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra being impeached because of a complaint alleging the policy statement delivered in the Parliament on Sep. 12 was incomplete, Naewna newspaper said.
The lawyer, Mr. Paisarn Puechmongkol, who was formerly an assistant to Palang Pracharath leader Prawit Wongsuwan, said there has been a complaint alleging that this policy statement violated Article 162 of the Constitution because it was not stated where the revenue would be obtained to meet the stated expenses and that the Constitutional Court could possibly impeach all cabinet members.
Currently, there is a sense of panic, but no decision has been made on what to do, he added.
Should nothing be done to rectify this alleged violation there is a very high risk that the whole cabinet could be impeached by the Constitutional Court with the Ombudsman taking 60 days to send a petition to this court, he mentioned.
There are those who think the government should request for another parliamentary session to mention an addition to the policy statement and complete it thus correcting it according to Article 162 of the Constitution while others think this would be a loss of face and that this violation was not a serious matter and would not lead to impeachment, he wrote.
This is chaos, he said, adding both domestically and internationally there are people who are unsure how long this government would last as they all know about this allegedly violated the constitution.
The problem is this legal weakness has not been resolved because to this day it has not been revealed whether a legal team has been appointed or not and what is being done about this matter, the lawyer said.
CAPTIONS:
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra delivering her policy statement at Parliament on Sep. 12, 2024, above, and seated next to Deputy Prime Minister/Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, Front Page. Photos: Naewna
Insert: Lawyer Paisarn Puechmongkol. Photo: Naewna
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