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September 2003 : Rakkiat Barred and Asset Siege
The political crime section of the Supreme Court ruled that former Health Minister Rakkiat Suthana was guilty and would siege 233.88 million baht of his wealth while the Constitutional Court ruled him guilty and barred from holding political position for five years. The House passed a draft bill on Provincial Administration Organization in which major issue is direct election of chief executive of the provinces.
The Senate endorsed the teachers bill while the House submitted a request to the constitutional Court to rule on the Human Rights Commission authority in regards to the organization proposal on the gas pipe line crackdown.
Furthermore, the EC announced October 12 for Nondhburi bye-election.
Rakkiat asset to be seized
The political crime section of the Supreme Court on September 30 ruled to siege 233.88 million baht money of former Public Health Minister Rakkiat Suthana on ground that he could not identify the source of this money alleged as “unusual wealth” by the National Counter Corruption Commission. If Mr. Rakkiat’s account is not sufficient his asset will be seized within 10 years. The case is the first trial ever bring to court and Mr Rakkiat is the first politician on trial in accords to the 1997 Constitution.
Furthermore, on September 16 the Constitutional Court also unanimously ruled that Mr. Rakkiat intend to submit false asset list resulted he will be barred from holding political position for 5 years from September 6, 2000 in accords to article 295 of the Constitution.
Mr. Rakkiat was also alleged on taking 5 million baht bribe from Thai Nakorn Pattana Co. Ltd. And T.N.P. Health Care Co. Ltd. while he was the health Minister. The Criminal Court will ruled on this October 28 and if the court is against him, he will be imprison instantly similar to Mr. Jirayu Charas-sathien, his former consultant who was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment on similar allegation.
Direct election of Chief Executive Provincial Administration Organization
The House unanimously voted 395 to pass the draft bill on Provincial Administration Organization in which principle is direct election of provincial chief executive.
Qualifications of provincial chief executive candidates is over 30 years of age, holding any bachelor degree or equivalent, holding neither local government administration position nor council membership for at least 5 years. The regulations is applicable after the first election scheduled next year. However, the bill will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.
The Senate endorsed teachers bill
The Senate on September 12 endorsed the draft bill on Educational Personals Regulations and the Salaries Annex amended by the joint House-Senate committee even though the bill was previously rejected by the House. Regards to the legislative procedures, the House should wait for the Senate final endorsement before enactment of any law.
Since the House and Senate disagreed on the teachers bill, the House will re-submit the original version, exclusion of the Salaries Annex, to the parliament and start the legislation procedure again.
Clarification on the HRC authority
The House finally voted 280 to 2 and 2 abstain to request the Constitutional Court to rule on the authority of the Human Rights Commission in regards to the commission’ s proposal to the government on the violation of the gas pipeline crackdown. Earlier, the request was submitted to the House for consideration.
The Human Rights Commission asked the government to stop prosecution on the protestors arrested during the police crackdown and compensate for their casualties.
As the case is on trial the House considered inappropriate to consider the request and then voted to forward the matter to the Constitutional Court to clarify the HRC’s authority.
Bye-election in Nondhburi
The Election Commission declared October 12 to be the bye-election date in Nondhburi for constituency 4 and October 4-5 should be dated for advanced election. The seat was vacant when Chart Pattana MP Samret Achariyaprasong died of cancer on September 7. Article 119[2] of the constitution stated bye-election should be organized within 45 days after vacancy.
Application period is between September 21-25 and it is expected that this bye-election will cost 5 million baht and 60 percent of the eligible voters will cast their ballots.
From : http://www.fpps.or.th
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