Charter court set to rule on B2tn loan bill

Charter court set to rule on B2tn loan bill

National progress at stake, Yingluck warns

Thailand will lose a major opportunity to progress and develop if the Constitution Court rules against the government’s 2-trillion-baht borrowing bill to modernise transport infrastructure, caretaker prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday.

The court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the bill today.

A ruling against the bill could spell further trouble for the caretaker government, which would come under pressure to resign to show political responsibility for failing to pass a government-sponsored financial bill.

The ruling comes after the Democrat Party asked the court to decide whether the bill, which authorises the Finance Ministry to borrow 2 trillion baht for transport infrastructure development, is constitutional.

Opponents argue that the special borrowing bill bypassed normal scrutiny and will incur enormous losses for the nation.

It would also enable the government to borrow money without including it in the national budget. As such, parliament would not be able to monitor spending.

Speaking ahead of the ruling, Ms Yingluck yesterday said it would be a great pity for the country if it misses this opportunity since the plans for infrastructure development are already in place.

Caretaker PM’s Office Ministser Varathep Rattanakorn said the court is likely to reach one of three possible rulings.

First, the court may rule in favour of the bill. In this event, it will be submitted for royal endorsement and enacted into law.

In the second instance, the court may rule that the bill contains wording that contradicts or violates the constitution, but is not an essential part of it.

Here the court may rule against such wording but retain the remainder of the bill. In this case, the rest of it can still be submitted for royal endorsement and becomes law, Mr Varathep said.

Lastly, the court may rule against the bill in its entirety. The court may decide the whole drafting process was illegal or contained essential provisions that are unconstitutional, Mr Varathep said.

If the court does rules the whole bill unconstitutional, the cabinet has no reason quit to show any political responsibility, despite the bill being finance-related, he said.

He argued that the bill had already been approved by parliament before the House of Representatives was dissolved.

This is not a case of a government-sponsored bill failing to win approval of parliament, Mr Varathep said.

However, if the bill is rejected, this will impact transport infrastructure projects such as electric train projects for Bangkok and surrounding provinces, he said.

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanchana said the government will respect the court’s ruling.

Under normal circumstances, if a finance-related bill runs into trouble, the government is obliged to resign or dissolve the House.

However this does not apply, since the House is already dissolved, and the government is in a caretaker role, Mr Phongthep said.

Caretaker Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said the borrowing bill will help shape the country’s future. He said criticism of the projects should be constructive and based on fact, not hatred or fear.

These projects have absolutely nothing to do with politics — they are the country’s future, he said.

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