Tape could snowball on party

Chart Thai could be disbanded by court

Mongkol Bangprapa

The controversial taped vote-buying conversation in Nakhon Nayok is threatening to snowball on Chart Thai.

The Election Commision said the party could be disbanded if any of its executives were found involved in the alleged wrongdoing.

Vijit Yusuparb, commission secretary-general, said the commission has already started the process of verifying the taped conversation obtained from a TV Channel 5 reporter.

If the tape was found to be authentic, a new election would be called in Nakhon Nayok and the candidate responsible for the poll fraud barred from rejoining the race, he said.

Party executives found involved in the fraud would be removed from the lower house and the party disbanded through a Constitutional Court order.

In such a scenario, the commission would have to file a separate criminal lawsuit over the wrongdoing. If found guilty, the wrongdoers could be banned from politics for 10 years, he said.

Mr Vijit has been appointed to head an investigating panel to determine the authenticity of the taped conversation, allegedly between Chart Thai deputy leader Somsak Prisananantakul and Sithichai Kittithanesuan, a Chart Thai MP for Nakhon Nayok, about buying votes for 200 baht each.

The tape was aired by Channel 5 before being handed over to the poll agency on July 3 for action.

Mr Vijit yesterday called investigators to a meeting to discuss the case. Present were Pol Maj-Gen Amporn Chinda, commander of the police Scientific Crime Detection Division, Pol Col Chaisri Pongpat, head of the poll agency's investigation office, and Pol Col Vinai Thongsong, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division.

The investigators will try to establish the identity of the voices on tape and study whether the content of the conversation violated the law and bore an impact on the June 30 by-election in Nakhon Nayok.

Worawit Sri-anantraksa, a Daily News news editor appeared on an iTV programme claiming to know the origins of the tape.

He said a number of other people including Charnchai Issarasenarak, a former Democrat MP for Nakhon Nayok, also knew, and would be questioned.

Police officers would be sent to a local mobile telephone office in Ban Na district of Nakhon Nayok to track down all calls that went through its network before the by-election, he said.

The Scientific Crime Detection Division would be responsible for examining the sound spectrum of the voices recorded on the tape and those recorded in parliament with a comparison made to determine their owners.

Note Chernyim, a popular comedian with the ability to imitate the voices of many leading public figures, would be invited to appear before the investigation panel to offer his views on claims by some Chart Thai members that the conversation was probably the work of a mimic, most likely a stage comedian.

Mr Vijit said he was confident of getting to the bottom of things for the poll commission by July 10, in time for the panel to decide whether to endorse the winner of the Nakhon Nayok by-election.

Mr Somsak, who has repeatedly denied vote buying in Nakhon Nayok, has reportedly been instructed by his party to refrain from making any public comments on the issue.

Chart Thai MPs yesterday angrily criticised attempts to link Mr Somsak and the party to the scandal.

The allegations against Mr Somsak were groundless and sounded more like a smear campaign against the party, said Mr Sithichai, and Kasem Sorasakkasem, a party fact-finding investigator looking into the scandal.

Separately, Mr Charnchai confirmed the existence of a copy of the taped conversation.

But he refused to say where or who he had obtained it from.