POLITICS
Samak's appearances may have been illegal
MONGKOL BANGPRAPA
The Election Commission (EC) yesterday resolved to ask the Constitution Court to decide whether Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej hosting TV programmes had breached the charter.
The agency also dropped its investigation into the past undeclared shareholdings of Deputy Commerce Minister Viroon Tejapaibul.
According to EC secretary-general Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn, the EC saw legal questions with the previous roles of Mr Samak as the host of Chim Pai Bon Pai and Yok Khayong Hok Mong Chao cooking programmes.
The panel then agreed by a 4:1 vote that the Constitution Court was the right party to rule on the legal questions.
Among these, the EC has queried if Mr Samak should be considered an employee for hosting the programmes without receiving payment. Mr Samak had explained he had not been paid by the producer of the programmes after taking office as prime minister.
Mr Suthiphon refused to reveal the other legal questions the EC has.
Mr Samak was accused of violating Article 267 of the constitution, which prohibits a 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.
The solitary dissenting vote had been cast by election commissioner Somchai Jungprasert.
In a written statement he distributed yesterday, he explained that the EC should stop dealing with Mr Samak's case because the Senate Speaker had already forwarded it to the Constitution Court and the EC should not pass on its investigative findings to the court to refrain from influencing the verdict.
In another development, Mr Suthiphon said, the EC decided by a 3:2 vote yesterday to stop investigating the past shareholdings of Deputy Commerce Minister Viroon because the company in which Mr Viroon had owned a stake had shut down before he took up his post in the government.
Besides, the EC resolved to ask the Constitution Court to order a by-election in Constituency 4 of Udon Thani province as People Power party (PPP) candidates Vichien Khaokham and Kriengsak Faisee-ngam were found to have bought votes with CDs and other assets there before last year's election, held on Dec 23.
The EC has asked the court to also punish the people who facilitated the vote-buying.
In addition, the EC set up two sub-committees to investigate the complaint of PPP deputy spokesman Supachai Jaisamut that 61 House members and senators hold shares in companies that have contracts with the state.
The inquiry is scheduled to be concluded in 30 days.
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