Three government MPs have been suspended from parliament pending the court's decision on charges of corruption in the awarding of futsal field construction contracts nine years ago - chief whip Wirach Ratanasate, his wife Thassaneeya and his younger sister Thassanaporn Ketmetheekaroon.
All are members of the leading coalition party Palang Pracharath, representing Nakhon Ratchasima.
Their suspension follows the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions decision on Tuesday to accept a case filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) against Mr Wirach and 86 others for corruption over the construction of futsal fields in Nakhon Ratchasima in fiscal year 2012, during the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
The other suspects included school directors, local politicians and teachers.
Mr Wirach, then a Pheu Thai MP, is accused by prosecutors of siphoning money from a 4.4 billion baht Education Ministry budget for the construction of 56 futsal pitches in Nakhon Ratchasima and 18 other provinces.
The irregularities were found two years later, and the NACC took up the case after most of the futsal fields in Nakhon Ratchasima were found to be substandard and unusable.
In 2019, the NACC decided to charge Mr Wirach, his wife Thassaneeya and his sister Thassanaporn and the other suspects over alleged irregularities in the project.
On Sept 14 this year, the prosecution indicted the 87 suspects in the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positons.
As a consequence of the court accepting the case for consideration, Mr Wirach, Ms Thassayeeya and Ms Thassanaporn have been suspended from the parliament.
The court scheduled Dec 20, starting 9am, for prima facie examination of the case.