Court rejects petition against Saksayam

The Constitutional Court on Friday rejected a petition lodged by the opposition asking it to rule whether suspended Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob violated Section 144 of the constitution, which deals with examining budget expenditure.

A group of 47 opposition MPs, led by Move Forward Party-list MP Pakornwut Udomphipatsakul, had earlier submitted a petition to the court, asking it to rule whether Mr Saksayam violated Section 144 by using his cabinet and House panel status to approve state projects in favour of a company.

Bhumjaithai Party member Saksayam, who had proposed the budget for the ministry, sat on a House committee that directly and indirectly participated in the expenditure budget for fiscal 2021, and still held a partnership status with Burijarearn Constitution Limited Partnership.

Mr Pakornwut said the petition would ask the court to revoke Mr Saksayam’s right to seek re-election because he might have violated Section 144.

On Friday, the court ruled that the budget expenditure draft bill for fiscal 2021 had already been deliberated and put into force. This case did not meet the criteria in the charter because the petition must be lodged during the scrutiny stage. The court unanimously ruled not to accept the petition.

Under Section 144, lawmakers are prohibited from increasing the annual budget expenditure bill. They are only permitted to trim the budget amounts during the scrutiny stage.