Prawit returns MP salary, refuses future payments
Move thought to be related to complaint about his failure to be present for mandatory number of parliamentary votes
Palang Pracharath Party leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwan notified the Secretariat of the House of Representatives on Tuesday that he would return all the salary he had received as a member of the House of Representatives, and would not accept any remuneration moving forward.
House secretary-general Arpath Sukhanunth said he received two letters from Prawit, a party-listed MP of Palang Pracharath Party. The first letter said Prawit would no longer accept a salary as an MP from now on.
The other letter stipulated that Prawit would return all the salary he had received since becoming an MP to the secretariat.
Arpath said the Secretariat would follow the procedure once it receives an official document from Prawit.
Political analysts believe Prawit’s action is in response to an ethics complaint launched against him last month by Phromphong Nopparit, a member of the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
Phromphong called for a probe into Prawit’s ethics as an MP, stating that he has missed 13 out of 16 parliamentary votes and may have breached constitutional rules on attendance.
Article 101 of the Constitution states that “if an MP is absent for more than a quarter of parliamentary days during a session lasting no less than 120 days without permission from the Speaker, their membership will end”.
However, in practice, no MP has used these rules to take action against another, as it would risk creating enemies with the result that some members have been relaxed about adhering to these standards.
