EC clears 31 parties of illegal borrowings

EC clears 31 parties of illegal borrowings

Future Forward only party found breaking rules

EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma says the EC has dropped the investigation into 31 parties over their borrowings. (Bangkok Post file photo)
EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma says the EC has dropped the investigation into 31 parties over their borrowings. (Bangkok Post file photo)

The Election Commission has cleared 31 political parties of breaking financial borrowing rules since the loans in question were less than 10 million baht each.

Secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma said on Monday the EC had dropped the investigation into the parties’ financial accounts.

The regulator began the probe after activist Srisuwan Janya submitted in January a petition, asking it to determine whether the borrowings by 32 parties violated the political parties law, a penalty of which was party dissolution.

Earlier, Mr Srisuwan had filed another petition with the EC to look into Future Forward Party 's borrowings. The EC in December last year forwarded the case to the Constitution Court, which ruled in February the loans extended to the party by former leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit were “ill-gotten gains”, leading to the party dissolution and a 10-year ban from politics for its executives.

According to the EC, a probe into the finances of 31 parties found the loans and advances extended by party leaders or executives with no interest or below-market interest rates were considered “other benefits”.

However, none of them exceeded the 10-million-baht limit per donor per year. Future Forward Party, on the other hand, borrowed 191.3 million baht in total from its leader, said Mr Jarungvith.


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