Nipon resigns as Deputy Interior Minister ahead of court ruling

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

DEPUTY INTERIOR MINISTER Nipon Bunyamanee has resigned today (Sept. 5) with a court ruling to determine his ministerial status being scheduled for next week.

Nipon, currently attached to Democrat Party, posted on his Facebook page to say he did by no means intend to stand in the way of the Constitutional Court’s proceedings to determine his ministerial status in relation to a duty-negligence case earlier filed against him by the National Anti-Corruption Commission, thus prompting him to step down as deputy interior minister prior to the court ruling scheduled for Sept. 14.

Nipon who has not been suspended by court from running his ministerial tasks has been hit with the duty-negligence charge during his time as president of Songkhla provincial administrative organisation involving a suspended pay for procurement of vehicles used in a road maintenance and repair project several years ago.

The eight-time former Democrat MP resigned as head of the provincial administration to assume the post of deputy interior minister following the 2019 general election. If found guilty by court, he will retroactively lose his ministerial status.

Meanwhile, caretaker prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan said today he is not going to reshuffle the cabinet in the wake of Nipon’s resignation and would rather leave it undone until the Constitutional Court has ruled whether Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s eight-year rule maximumly provided by law may already have ended since August 24.

The largest coalition Palang Pracharath Party of which Prawit concurrently performs as top leader has left two ministerial seats vacant since last year whilst one other might well be filled by Bhumjaithai Party apart from the one for Democrat Party just left vacant due to Nipon’s resignation.

The Palang Pracharath cabinet seats had been assumed by Thammanat Prompao and Naruemon Pinyosinwat as deputy agriculture & cooperatives minister and deputy labour minister respectively before they were ousted by Prayut following last year’s censure/no-confidence motion.

The Bhumjaithai cabinet seat might possibly be assumed by anyone other than Deputy Education Minister Kanokwan Wilawan who has been ordered by court to stop performing her ministerial duties pending a court ruling on a Khaoyai national park encroachment case filed against her.

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Top and Front Page: Mr. Nipon Bunyamanee. Both photos: INN News

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