The Democrat Party is vowing to file a libel suit against a red-shirt academic and said it has petitioned the Defence Ministry to consider lodging a lese majeste charge against her.
Wirat Kalayasiri, head of the party's legal team, told reporters on Tuesday that Suda Rangkuphan, a former Chulalongkorn University lecturer and core supporter of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, posted messages on her Facebook page which were deemed a violation of Section 112 of the Criminal Code dealing with lese majeste and defamatory of the Democrat Party.
Suda: Faces lese majeste, libel charges
Mr Wirat said the message encouraged people to wear black this month in memory of the FRA (Financial Sector Restructuring Authority) cases.
The message also said the Democrats caused damage to the country in their handling of the FRA when it was in power.
The FRA was a body set up after the 1997 financial crisis to clear bad loans and assets from financial institutions.
The Bank of Thailand was forced to float the baht on July 2, 1997, after it used up foreign reserves to defend the currency and lost its battle with foreign exchange speculators.
Thais celebrate His Majesty the King's birthday this month. They also wear yellow clothing to honour him.
Ms Suda's message urging people to wear black this month was deemed offensive towards the monarchy, Mr Wirat said. The post itself does not mention the monarchy. However, the Democrats' concerns have prompted the party to petition Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon to pursue legal action against Ms Suda.
Former Democrat MP for Songkhla Sirichok Sopha said Ms Suda's reference to the FRA cases was defamatory. She, other red-shirt academics and several Pheu Thai Party politicians have often used the FRA cases in their verbal attacks on the Democrats.
Ms Suda's Facebook post also said the Democrats were national traitors because they caused substantial losses in their handling of the FRA cases, said Mr Sirichok.
He insisted the FRA case was the fault of the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government. The Chavalit administration made grave mistakes in mismanaging the baht's value, Mr Sirichok said.
His government signed a contract to seek loans from the International Monetary Fund to prop up the country after the financial meltdown and set up the FRA as an independent organisation.
It was an independent body and no government could interfere with its management of the bad debts after the economic crisis, said Mr Sirichok.