EC launches criminal proceedings against Chonburi MP of People’s Party
Lawmaker accused of submitting inaccurate and incomplete election income and expense report
The Election Commission (EC) has initiated criminal proceedings against an MP from the People's Party for submitting inaccurate election expense documents.
The website of the Office of the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) today (December 22) published a ruling by the EC, ordering criminal proceedings against Chawal Pholmuangdee, the Chonburi MP of the People's Party.
The EC says there is evidence to suggest that after the May 14, 2023 election, he violated the 2018 law governing MP elections by deliberately submitting an inaccurate and incomplete election income and expense report.
An examination of the election income and expense report revealed that Chawal informed the Chonburi provincial election director of campaign advertising expenses amounting to 6,000 baht, incurred between March 20 and May 15, 2023, through a Facebook account named “Chawal Pholmuangdee,” under the category “Advertising Expenses in Various Media”. An inquiry found that his actual campaign advertising expenses through the Facebook account amounted to 9,347.51 baht.
When officials from EC Chonburi contacted Chawal to review and correct the expense amounts, he failed to report the additional advertising expenses.
The inquiry found that on April 4, 2023, Chawal reported his election campaign activities through electronic means via a Facebook account named "Move Forward Party Chonburi " to the Chonburi provincial election director. The advertising expenses for this campaign amounted to 5,512.46 baht.
However, Chawal did not include these expenses in the total election campaign costs, claiming he was unaware of the advertising expenses. Two witnesses, who managed the Facebook posts on his behalf, testified that the failure to report these expenses to Chawal was due to oversight and that Chawal had not followed up on the matter.
The EC concluded that there was sufficient evidence to believe Chawal deliberately submitted an inaccurate and incomplete election income and expense report as required by law within 90 days of the election.
The penalties for this violation include imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to 40,000 baht, or both, along with the revocation of the individual’s electoral rights for five years as ordered by the court.
