COOKING SHOWS
KING-OUA LAOHONG
The Constitution Court yesterday gave Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej more time to defend himself against allegations he violated the charter by hosting two TV cooking shows.
Court secretary-general Paiboon Varahapaitoon said Mr Samak had asked the court to postpone his scheduled response to the accusation lodged by Senator Ruangkrai Leekitwattana.
The senator claimed the prime minister's hosting of the Chim Pai Bon Pai and Yok Khayong Hok Mong Chao cooking programmes on commercial TV breached the constitution.
Article 267 of the constitution strictly prohibits the prime minister from holding any position in a partnership, a company or an organisation carrying out business with a view to sharing profits or income, or being an employee of any person.
Mr Samak earlier told the Election Commission that he appeared in the programme only as an honorary guest, did not sign any contract with the programme producer and did it for free.
In another case, where Deputy Commerce Minister Viroon Tejapaibul is at risk of losing his cabinet post, Mr Paiboon said the nine-judge court had already received Mr Viroon's statement, but had not yet scheduled a date for deliberation.
The court has been asked to decide whether Mr Viroon is qualified to be in the cabinet after he failed to declare all his assets to the National Counter Corruption Commission when he took office.
In another development, Election Commission (EC) chairman Apichart Sukhagganond said he was waiting for the written decision of a joint panel of EC and the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) to ask the Constitution Court to disband the Chart Thai and Matchimathipataya coalition parties.
Executives of both parties have been charged with electoral fraud.
''I have to study the resolution before forwarding it to the OAG to bring the case before the court,'' he said.
He added that the EC will consider the findings of its sub-panel, which has investigated whether Mr Samak had been contracted to work for the cooking programmes, during its meeting tomorrow.
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