Srettha confident he can justify Pichit’s appointment with charter court
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said that he would discuss with his legal advisers about the preparation of his testimony after Thailand’s Constitutional Court decided to accept a complaint against him for judicial trial.
He made the remarks after a meeting with executives of leading Japanese corporations in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon.
“After completing my work today, I will call my legal advisers to discuss how my testimony for the Constitutional Court should be prepared,” Srettha told reporters in Tokyo.
He also said that he would discuss with his legal team in detail after returning to Thailand.
“This is normal for people in politics who must be ready for scrutiny. Whenever the legislature and the judiciary have questions, it’s the duty of the administrative branch to explain,” he added.
The PM also said he was confident of being able to explain himself in response to the petition against him.
When asked if he suspected any ulterior motive in the 40 outgoing senators taking the case to court, Srettha said they were performing their duties in a caretaker role although the current Senate’s five-year term ended on May 11.
“I don’t want to view this move as a political game. I believe everyone has goodwill towards the country and wants to see good governance,” he added.
In their petition, the senators asked the court to rule on whether the prime minister had violated the Constitution when he recently appointed Pichit Chuenban as minister of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The court’s nine judges on Thursday voted 5-4 against suspending the prime minister from performing his duties while a final verdict was pending. The court gave him 15 days to justify Pichit’s nomination to the court in writing.
If found guilty, Srettha could be ousted from his position which he has held since last August last year.
A charter clause on qualifications and prohibitions of government ministers requires that appointees must “be of evident integrity” and bars those who fail to comply with ethical standards.
In 2008, Pichit was jailed for six months on contempt of court charges after the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division on Holders of Political Positions found that he and his two junior colleagues had attempted to bribe court officials with 2 million baht. The trio were then representing former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a conflict-of-interest case.
Despite his initial defiance, Pichit resigned from his post on Tuesday in what he described in his resignation letter as an effort to protect the prime minister. Pichit was on the job for only 23 days.
In Tokyo on Thursday, PM Srettha met with executives of global trading and investment firm Mitsui & Co Ltd, multinational food and biotechnology corporation Ajinomoto Inc, and electronics and entertainment giant Sony Group Corporation, at The Peninsula Tokyo Hotel. The discussions involved those companies’ plans to invest in Thailand and their future projects for expansion.
