The Election Commission (EC) has forwarded a case in which Future Forward Party (FFP) leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is accused of violating media shareholding rules to the Constitutional Court for a ruling.
Mr Thanathorn yesterday expressed confidence the court will ensure justice for him, adding this was a last-ditch attempt by the National Council for Peace and Order to undermine the FFP.
The poll agency yesterday said it had petitioned the court to revoke Mr Thanathorn's MP status for holding shares in a media company in violation of Section 98 (3) of the constitution, which bars owners or shareholders of media and/or publishing firms from applying to be MPs.
On March 25, Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, petitioned the EC to investigate whether Mr Thanathorn is qualified to be an MP.
Mr Srisuwan claimed Mr Thanathorn applied to be an MP candidate while still holding shares in V-Luck Media Co. This may constitute a breach of Section 98 (3) of the constitution, he said.
The election watchdog said on April 23 that it believes the allegation has grounds, and that Mr Thanathorn held 675,000 shares in the company.
Mr Thanathorn, who is among 149 endorsed party-list MPs, has dismissed the complaint and insisted he and his wife had transferred their shares to his mother on Jan 8 after returning to Bangkok from Buri Ram, where he was campaigning on the same day, before he applied to stand in the March election. MP candidacy applications were held between Feb 4-8.
A source at the EC said yesterday the EC's decision to refer the case to the court was unanimous, adding that V-Luck Media Co is still operational.
The source also said the EC had obtained a copy of the list of shareholders of the firm from the Department of Business Development.
The source alleged the document showed Mr Thanathorn was one of the shareholders from 2015 to March 21, 2019.
Section 82 of the constitution stipulates that if the charter court finds the case has grounds, it can suspend Mr Thanathorn from being an MP.