Senate to vote today to decide Suthep fate

Senate to vote today to decide Suthep fate

The Senate will vote today to decide the fate of former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, accused by the anti-graft agency of attempting to interfere in the work of state officials.

Suthep: Awaiting fate

The vote comes a day after the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and Mr Suthep delivered their closing statements before the upper house.

The NACC found that Mr Suthep breached the constitution by sending Democrat MPs to work at the Culture Ministry when he was deputy prime minister in the Abhisit Vejjajiva government.

Under the charter, cabinet members and MPs are prohibited from interfering in the work of civil servants.

The NACC submitted its findings to the Senate, recommending Mr Suthep be removed retroactively from the post and banned from politics for five years.

In his defence, Mr Suthep told the Senate that he had sent a letter to the Culture Ministry to inform it that a group of people wanted to help with the ministry's work.

In his letter, Mr Suthep asked to send 19 people including Democrat MPs to work at the Culture Ministry, although he later sent his staff to ask for the letter to be returned.

He said the letter was not issued in form of an order and that nobody had been sent to work there at all in the end.

Mr Suthep also said that his case was similar to that of Pheu Thai MPs who distributed flood relief supplies to flood victims last year.

The Constitution Court ruled in that case that their work could not be regarded as interference and helping people was part of their job.

NACC secretary-general Klanarong Chanthik said Mr Suthep's action was deemed as interference and it justified the impeachment bid.

Mr Klanarong said the agency had no vested interest in the case and it was proceeding in line with its authority.

"The NACC doesn't make the final call. The agency is neither sad nor happy if the Senate finds otherwise," he said.

Based on the Senate's voting record, Mr Suthep is likely to survive the impeachment bid.

No impeachment motion against political office-holders has mustered the required number of votes. Impeachment requires three-fifths, or 88 votes, of the 146 senators.

The closest call involved the impeachment bid against Pakdee Pothisiri, a member of the NACC, who was accused of violating Section 248 of the constitution by failing to resign from a private firm before accepting his NACC position. He survived the bid to impeach him by 84 to 56 votes.

In an impeachment case against former premier Somchai Wongsawat, 76 senators voted to impeach, against 49.

Mr Somchai was accused of malfeasance in connection with the crackdown on yellow-shirt protesters on Oct 7, 2008 outside parliament.

Former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama also survived an impeachment attempt over his role in the listing of the Preah Vihear temple. Only 57 senators voted to impeach, while 55 were against.

Mr Noppadon was accused of bypassing parliamentary scrutiny of the Cambodian-Thai draft communique on getting Preah Vihear listed as a World Heritage site.

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