The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Wednesday heard the closing statements from the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and 38 former senators accused of illegally trying to amend the composition of the Senate.
The National Legislative Assembly hears closing statements in the impeachment case against 38 former senators accused of having altered the constitution unlawfully to make the Senate fully elected. The impeachment vote is set for today. The statements were delivered by the accused and the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Chanat Katanyu
The NLA is scheduled to vote whether to impeach the 38 ex-senators today.
Vichai Vivitsevi delivered the NACC's final statement.
It said the 38 former senators had abused their power and violated the constitution in their attempt to amend the 2007 charter regarding the Senate's composition.
The amendments to the charter the 38 former senators approved in all three readings were different to the ones they, along with former Pheu Thai Party MP for Nonthaburi Udomdech Ratanasathian, formally proposed for deliberation on March 20, 2013, the statement said.
One big difference occurred in the amendment to Section 6. The original draft said senators would not be able to serve consecutive terms, but the version endorsed later said senators could.
Parliament officials told the NACC that it was Mr Udomdech's assistant who swapped the original amendment for the one the 38 former senators later endorsed, Mr Vichai said.
Mr Udomdech's assistant did not have the right to change the proposed draft amendment, not to mention the fact that the charter court already ruled the amendment was unconstitutional, Mr Vichai said.
"Democracy is like a two-sided coin. One side is the majority voice and the other is the minority. We have to think how to protect the minority voice from being shouted down by the majority, which is a cause of Thailand's political unrest," he said.
Krich Arthitkaew, a former senator for Kamphaeng Phet, insisted he and the other accused had not done anything that violated the constitution and that the NACC was biased and pursuing them unfairly.
The former Nakhon Phanom senator, Wittaya Inala, insisted that the first reading of the amendment was legal because it had been endorsed by 308 MPs and senators as required by the 2007 charter.
On the draft amendment falsification claim, he argued that it could not be an offence because the proposers had read out the amendment principles before parliament, and told its president about the changes.