Constitutional Court judges have their hands full right now as they are busy deliberating a number of petitions of administrative significance. The latest one brought to the court's attention could put the government's ethical integrity to the test.
Don: Unperturbed by critics
It would have been unimaginable until several days ago that Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai and the Election Commission (EC) would cross paths.
It took Pheu Thai legal adviser Ruangkrai Leekitwattana to bring them together. Last year, Mr Ruangkrai pressed the EC to probe the shareholdings of nine cabinet ministers. The EC stepped up to admit the petition and later cleared eight of the ministers, leaving Mr Don's cabinet future in limbo.
The EC has voted three to two to forward Mr Don's case to the Constitutional Court for a ruling over his ministerial status after the commission learned that his wife had not disclosed her 5% share in a private company. Section 187 of the 2017 charter prohibits a minister or his spouse from holding shares.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam explained that if the court found the petition against Mr Don had sufficient grounds, he would be removed from his ministerial post and would have to stay away from the cabinet for two years, according to the constitution.
Fighting for his political future, Mr Don was swift in issuing a statement. He said that since joining the cabinet he had reported such stockholdings to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on at least four occasions in accordance with the regulations.
These stockholdings are shares which his wife's father had bequeathed to her 37 years ago, the statement said. The companies are not listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the stockholders consist of six or seven relatives of his wife, it added.
Mr Don has of late made it known he is unperturbed by growing calls from critics for him to vacate the ministerial seat. He suggested the opponents demanding his resignation were barking up the wrong tree.
The source said Mr Don refused to budge. It is possible he was listening to advice from people close to him that quitting the post would be tantamount to an admission of guilt, the source added.
The EC has, in the meantime, insisted that current cabinet ministers are not exempt from having to answer for any misconduct stemming from the ownership of any shareholding.
This was understood to be a response to comments from former National Reform Steering Assembly member Seri Suwannapanont, who said the cabinet ministers appointed by the NCPO were legally immune to being purged over qualification problems.
However, the critics agreed that the government's credibility could suffer after the Don saga received much public attention, especially on social media.
They said the government risked losing further public support, which has already taken a nose dive on account of the luxury wristwatch controversy involving Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.
A source close to the EC said the commission chairman, Supachai Somcharoen, has admitted the Don qualification issue was a political hot potato.
Since the scandal broke, Mr Supachai has switched off his phone, as though to send a message he is unwilling to discuss the matter further.
But when he met reporters recently, he said he would rather not see the government troubled by the Don scandal. He added that Mr Don having his qualifications for the job thrown into doubt could hurt the country's stature on the world stage.
Yingluck: Globetrotting at will
'Prayut party' rears head
The Foreign Ministry's decision to revoke all of the Thai passports belonging to fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has not prevented her from spending her time globetrotting at will after she fled the last August to escape a corruption case ruling.
Recently, Thai officials were left baffled by a report from BBC Thai that Yingluck had received a 10-year visa for entry into the UK and would be allowed to stay for up to six months each time.
BBC Thai, whose editor is based in London, attributed the information to "a source close to Yingluck", whose name was withheld.
The media said Yingluck currently uses a passport issued by a European country because all of her Thai passports have been revoked.
However, the Royal Thai Police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted they had not yet received any official confirmation of the report.
But deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said it would be harder to track Yingluck if she has obtained a UK visa, as reported by the media.
Yingluck fled the country in August 2017 ahead of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions' ruling against her in a negligence of duty case relating to her government's rice-pledging scheme. She was later sentenced in absentia to five years behind bars.
The sightings of Yingluck with her elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra, another fugitive former premier, popping up here and there around the world have appeared on social media and continue to haunt the regime.
During the New Year, there was a picture showing Yingluck carrying a pink Hermes bag with a Thai woman in a location believed to be outside Harrods in London.
Yingluck later appeared in another photo that surfaced online with Thaksin at a market believed to be in Beijing during the Chinese New Year festival in February.
Last month, the siblings reportedly attended a cryptocurrency investment conference in Singapore before they were seen in a photo snapped outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
Observers noted that the release of the pictures was intended to shame Thai officials for their failed bids to capture them and bring them back to justice.
However, while the siblings seem to be enjoying their globe-trotting life after fleeing justice, the Pheu Thai Party has been left to struggle with its own fate.
It is now being challenged by the emergence of the Pracharath Party, which is thought likely to be a proxy set up to support Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to return in the same titular role after the general election expected in February of next year.
A source said Pracharath has succeeded in luring about 54 former Pheu Thai MPs from the North and the Northeast, both strongholds of the former ruling party, into its fold.
If this was the case, other loyal Pheu Thai members could be forgiven for wondering why their "big boss" had ignored them and done nothing to help stave off the "siphoning" of former MPs from the party, the source said.
Whenever the regime lifts the ban on political activities, potentially later this month, Thaksin, who is believed to still be the Pheu Thai's de facto leader, will likely see more Pheu Thai members defect to the pro-regime party, the source said.
Irked Chalerm plots move
Chalerm: Looking to exit Pheu Thai?
Maverick Chalerm Yubamrung dropped off the political scene just like several other politicians following the May 22, 2014, military putsch. He returned to public view last month along with whispers that he is looking for an exit from the Pheu Thai Party.
Gossip that the former labour minister is planning to part ways with the former ruling party began circulating shortly after he returned from Singapore where he and some other Pheu Thai members were thought to have met their big boss, Thaksin Shinawatra, in early May.
Their meeting was confirmed by a set of photos posted by Mr Chalerm's son, Wan Yubamrung.
In one photo, Mr Chalerm and Mr Wan were seen sitting together at a dining table with Thaksin on their left and his fugitive sister Yingluck Shinawatra on their right. They seemed to be having a wonderful time at the get-together.
But according to political sources, the face-to-face meeting did not go quite as well as Mr Chalerm would have liked. The veteran politician was said to have flown back home feeling so sore that he was thinking about leaving.
Pheu Thai affairs were believed to be high on the agenda at the reunion with the big boss. One of the pressing issues was the party leadership ahead of preparations for the general election.
The party is now led by two men -- Pol Lt Gen Viroj Pao-in, its acting leader, and Phumtham Wechayachai, its acting secretary-general. But this will have to change to help the party stay ahead of the curve due to new election rules and new players.
There are a few leadership candidates, but Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan is known to have won Thaksin's trust and remains his favoured nominee.
According to the sources, Thaksin was rather forthright about his intention to support Khunying Sudarat at the Singapore meeting.
There has never been any love lost between these two heavyweights. Reports of a long-standing rift between Khunying Sudarat and Mr Chalerm have dogged the party for years.
Around the middle of April, there were reports of a slanging match between the pair after Khunying Sudarat walked in on a party meeting Mr Chalerm was attending.
News of Khunying Sudarat looking set to take the helm of the former ruling party was believed to have been the final straw for the outspoken politician. Mr Chalerm has reportedly said that he would not contest the poll on the party's ticket if Khunying Sudarat was at the helm as she lacks the qualities of a leader.
The sources said that after he came back from Singapore, Mr Chalerm contacted several party members in Ubon Ratchathani, Si Sa Ket and Ayutthaya and asked them to leave the Pheu Thai with him.
Mr Chalerm is said to have a plan up his sleeve: Reviving his old Muan Chon Party or defecting to another political party.
Mr Chalerm has reportedly spent the past two weeks lobbying several Pheu Thai members to go with him but it seems he has lost his powers of persuasion; none of those he approached agreed to leave the party.
However, Mr Chalerm still has time to recruit allies and play a part in the election.
For Khunying Sudarat, the reports of Mr Chalerm's move should bring a sigh of relief even though it could affect the party's image and spoil morale, according to the political sources.