PM faces legal challenges after controversial speech
published : 24 Nov 2023 at 08:32
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Post Reporters
Opponents of Srettha Thavisin say the prime minister could face serious legal problems after apparently referring to his party MPs' influences on police promotion - problems that could even include removal from the premiership.
On Thursday petitioner Srisuwan Janya said he would ask the National Anti-Corruption Commission to launch a probe into Mr Srettha's speech during a meeting of Pheu Thai Party MPs on Tuesday.
Recent reports claimed he told the MPs that some of them had successfully pushed for the appointment of new police station chiefs while others were unsuccessful.
The speech violates the constitution, which prohibits MPs and senators from influencing the promotion or transfer of any government official, Mr Srisuwan said.
Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn from the Move Forward Party said the recent speech amounted to a confession, and it was not difficult to identify the new police station chiefs who received the support and the politicians who gave it.
Prime Minister Srettha said that some had misunderstood the speech.
Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, former election commissioner, wrote on Facebook that the prime minister could be held responsible for violating several sections of the constitution.
On Thursday Mr Srettha reiterated that he never interfered with the promotion or transfer of any police officer.
Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsuthin was tight-lipped when reporters asked him to comment on Mr Srettha's controversial speech.
Learn from listening
Vocabulary
- appointment: when someone is officially chosen for a job - การแต่งตั้ง
- chief: a person with a high rank or the highest rank in a company or an organisation - หัวหน้า, ผู้นำ
- commissioner (noun): a member of a commission; a group of people who have been formally chosen to discover information about a problem or examine the reasons why the problem exists - กรรมาธิการ ผู้ได้รับมอบหมายอำนาจหน้าที่
- confession: admitting that you have done something wrong or illegal - การสารภาพผิด
- constitution: the set of laws and basic principles that a country in governed by - รัฐธรรมนูญ
- controversial: causing disagreement or disapproval - ความไม่ลงรอยกัน
- influence: to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves or thinks - มีอิทธิพลต่อ, ชักจูง อำนาจบังคับ
- misunderstood (verb): (past of misunderstand) did not understand correctly - เข้าใจผิด
- opponent: someone who disagrees with you or who is competing against you - ผู้ไม่เห็นด้วยกับ, ฝ่ายตรงข้าม
- petitioner: one among many people who ask the government to do something -
- premiership: the position of prime minister - นายกรัฐมนตรี
- probe: an attempt to find out the truth about an issue, problem or accident, made by an official group (or by the media); an investigation - การตรวจสอบ การสอบสวน
- promotion (noun): moving to a higher level; moving to a job at a higher level - การเลื่อนตำแหน่ง
- reiterated: repeated something in order to emphasise it - พูดซ้ำ ย้ำ
- speech (n): a formal talk delivered to an audience -
- tight-lipped: refusing to comment on something or to give information -
- violate: to do something that is against a law, rule or agreement - ฝ่าฝืน, ละเมิด