Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Friday brushed aside the notion that he could be held responsible for appointing Pichit Chuenban, his adviser, as a PM's Office Minister, allegedly without verifying his eligibility and submitting his appointment for royal endorsement despite his questionable background.
The PM insisted he had submitted the new cabinet line-up to the Council of State, the government's legal arm, for inspection before he actually submitted it for royal endorsement.
He was responding to growing criticism over Pichit's appointment among political pundits.
In response to a petition submitted to the Election Commission (EC) by two political movement groups seeking the EC's further action against the appointment in particular, Mr Srettha simply said he would rather let the legal process run its course.
The two groups which jointly submitted the petition on Tuesday were the Network of Students and People Reforming Thailand and the People's Centre to Protect the Monarchy.
In 2008, Pichit, together with his two colleagues, was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court when he dropped a box of snacks containing 2 million baht at the Supreme Court, in what was seen as an attempted bribe.
Pichit then represented former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his ex-wife, Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, in the infamous Ratchadaphisek land purchase case. Thaksin was handed a two-year jail term that year. His misdeeds cost him his lawyer's licence. His attempts to reclaim it have been denied.
Asked to comment on the Council of State's remark that whether Pichit is deemed ineligible for not meeting MP moral and ethical standards is a matter that will have to be decided on by the Constitutional Court, Mr Srettha said he wasn't aware of this opinion of the council before.
The EC is now duty-bound to petition the Constitutional Court to suspend Pichit from duty as a PM's Office Minister until the court rules on his eligibility, according to Sen Somchai Sawangkarn.
The court will be asked to interpret whether Pichit's criminal background makes him unfit for the appointment to the cabinet minister's post under Section 160(4) and (5), which stipulate the moral and ethical standards of a cabinet minister.
According to a source in the cabinet, Pichit's imprisonment in the 2008 contempt of court case does not render him ineligible to be appointed as a cabinet minister because the conviction had long passed the required 10-year break between finishing serving a jail term and the MP appointment.
After all, whether Pichit meets the MP's moral and ethical standards as required in the charter is a different matter that only the court can decide, said the source.