BANGKOK - Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday set July 24 as the next hearing date for a case seeking the dismissal of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin as it seeks more evidence.
The court said earlier this month that the case would reach a verdict before September.
"The court calls for more information including evidence and from individuals that were previously summoned," it said in a statement.
The case against Mr Srettha was launched following a complaint by 40 military-appointed senators in May, which was subsequently accepted by the constitutional court.
The case seeks to remove the premier over the cabinet appointment of a lawyer, Pichit Chuenban, who served jail time for contempt of court. The complaint alleges that Pichit fell short of moral and ethical standards for ministers as defined in the constitution.
Pichit has since resigned and Mr Srettha denies any wrongdoing.
Link with Thaksin
Pichit was sentenced to six months in prison in 2008 along with two colleagues after they tried to bribe Supreme Court officials by handing them a paper bag containing 2 million baht. He is deemed unfit by critics to serve as a cabinet minister.
Before Pichit was given the cabinet post, he was an adviser to Mr Srettha. But long before that Pichit was former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s lawyer in the “lunchbox cash” scandal and served the prison sentence for attempting to bribe the Supreme Court.
On June 25, 2008, the Supreme Court gave the jail sentence to Pichit and two of his colleagues after they had tried to bribe Supreme Court officials by handing them a lunchbox with a paper bag containing 2 million baht in cash a fortnight earlier.
All three were representing Thaksin and his ex-wife Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra in the Ratchadaphisek land purchase case, for which Thaksin was sentenced to two years in prison in 2008.
At that time Thaksin was charged with abusing his authority while being prime minister to facilitate his then-wife Khunying Potjaman's purchase of 33 rai of land on Thiam Ruam Mit Road in the Ratchadaphisek area from the Bank of Thailand's Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) at a discounted price of 772 million baht in 2003.
He was supposed to set a good example, maintaining the code of ethics for such an entrusted position, the Supreme Court said then.
If Mr Srettha, a political newcomer, is removed from office, a new government must be formed and his ruling Pheu Thai party would need to put forward a new candidate for premier to be voted on by parliament.
The case against the prime minister is being investigated along with another complaint calling for the dissolution of the opposition Move Forward Party, the surprise winners of last year's elections and the largest party in parliament.
Move Forward was blocked from forming a government by the military-appointed Senate.
The two cases have heightened political uncertainty in the kingdom, analysts say.