Two cabinet ministers who reportedly visited a night entertainment venue in Thong Lor linked to a new Covid-19 cluster are to be invited to give details of their movements to a House committee.
Sira Jenjaka, a Palang Pracharath Party MP and chairman of the House committee on legal affairs, justice and human rights, said the two unnamed cabinet ministers would be invited to appear before the committee after next week's Songkran festival. The committee's meetings have been cancelled for now due to the new surge of Covid-19 infections.
Mr Sira said that the law required everyone to reveal their timelines if asked and failure to do so could result in both jail terms and fines. "The law will be equally enforced, regardless of whether they are lawmakers or cabinet ministers," he said.
He said a reliable source had given him photos of the two ministers visiting the entertainment venue and both were clearly dated.
The national police chief must also set up an inquiry panel to look into whether the entertainment venue had a business licence and whether it operated outside legal opening hours, Mr Sira added.
If the venue has no licence and it is proved that the ministers visited it, this meant they used the services of an illegal venue and their actions were deemed to support illicit action.
There were two other developments involving politicians and Covid-19 on Thursday.
Monporn Charoensri, a Pheu Thai Party MP for Nakhon Phanom, told a parliamentary session she had been told of parliamentarians who attended a meeting of a House committee on April 1, even though they knew they had contracted the virus at that time.
She has asked Senate Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai to look into the matter.
Weerakorn Khamprakob, a Palang Pracharath Party MP for Nakhon Sawan, questioned why senators had been vaccinated but MPs had not.
"MPs from 77 provinces who sit here in the chamber are also at risk of infection," he said.