Parliament has delayed considering a petition to impeach the former speakers of the now defunct House of Representatives and Senate by at least two weeks.
A monitor screen shows the 'closed session' sign after the NLA members voted to discuss the impeachment in secret on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) sent a petition to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) this week, asking it to impeach former Senate speaker Nikhom Wairatpanich and ex-House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranon.
The two were charged with malfeasance and abuse of power when they pushed forward a charter amendment bill to have a fully elected Senate.
The NLA met on Friday to consider the petition in a closed session. After almost five hours, members left without announcing a resolution.
Witawad Boonyasatid, an NLA member, said participants voted 165 in favour of exempting the meeting regulation requiring an impeachment to be considered within 30 days.
Most members were in favour of the delay because they have yet to read the details of the case from the NACC, he said.
"The NLA president will decide when to consider the case," he added.
NLA vice-president Surachai Liengboonlertchai said that after exchanging views extensively, the NLA voted to delay the deliberation by two weeks.
Somchai Swangkarn said that since the case involved 5,000 pages of documents, the members need time to make the decision.
"But I insist the NLA has the prerogative to impeach them. The point we discussed today was on what law the offences are based now that the 2007 charter has been scrapped," he said.
"The NACC also said they were offences under the organic law on the NACC and we need to decide on whether we agree with it," he said.
Earlier, it was reported that most military members in the NLA did not agree with the impeachment. They thought the 2007 Constitution on which the charges were based was no longer in force.
Going ahead with the impeachment might also result in a legal backlash against them in the future. As well, they do not want to widen the rift in society.
Another group of members wanted to use a delaying tactic by voting to exempt the meeting regulation which requires the NLA chief put forward for consideration an impeachment motion within 30 days after receiving it from the NACC.
They could then either set up a panel to look into the case and reconsider it or put off the motion indefinitely.
A number of NLA members, mostly those affiliated with the "40 Senators" group which vocally opposed the former government, wanted to go ahead with the impeachment.
The NACC said late last year that it had found enough evidence to charge Mr Nikhom and Mr Somsak with malfeasance, abuse of power, violation of the constitution and failure to observe ethical standards when they proposed a constitution amendment bill to have a fully elected Senate.
Such offences are in violation of Section 270 of the 2007 charter, the NACC said.
With the decision, the anti-graft body is required to ask the Senate impeach them.
Although the House and Senate were already dissolved by the May 22 coup, an impeachment today of their chiefs may have a profound impact on the two men's political future. If the 2007 charter were still in place, they would be banned from politics for five years.
Future laws on MP qualifications might be even more unforgiving, with some reformists already floating the idea of a life ban for impeached politicians.