By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER PAETONGTARN Shinawatra might probably be told by her father/de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra to dissolve the House of Representatives if an unprecedented lawsuit against current and previous Pheu Thai-led cabinet members, coalition MPs and pro-government senators on charge of breaching the constitution pertaining to alleged government budget irregularities was eventually forwarded to the Constitutional Court sooner than later.
The avalanche lawsuit was filed by a group of political activists through the National Anti-Corruption Commission to the Constitutional Court primarily in pursuit of impeachment of those cabinet members, coalition lawmakers and senators who may have formally endorsed the allegedly illicit juggling of an estimated 35 billion baht in government funding for fiscal 2025 during the times of Thaksin’s daughter-turned-prime minister and her Pheu Thai-attached predecessor Srettha Thavisin.
The mega-billionaire/power player would rather have his daughter-turned-prime minister dissolve the House and call a general election within a 60-day time as provided by law if the NACC eventually forwarded the case to the Constitutional Court, which would be legally obliged to pass a verdict on it within a 15-day period, according to Pichai Rattanadilok na Phuket of the National Institute of Development Administration’s Graduate School of Social Development & Management Strategy.
Largely viewed as Mr. Fix-It, the de facto Pheu Thai boss would undoubtedly manage to find a certain candidate for prime minister to contest the post-House-dissolution race to parliament under his neo-conservative party’s tickets in case that his “puppet” prime minister might possibly be deposed alongside many others at an order of the Constitutional Court on charge of government budgeting irregularities lodged in the avalanche lawsuit.
Nevertheless, the anti-graft agency has been apparently dragging their feet on such a significant case filed last month with the possibility that as many as 300-plus current and former Pheu Thai-led coalition MPs and dozens of current and previous cabinet members might be found guilty of severely violating the coup junta-designed constitution, thus being immediately deprived of their legislative and/or executive statuses and banned from all levels of political activity for a number of years.
The current charter’s Article 144, which prohibits transfers of government funds originally earmarked for the repayment of debt and/or interest owed by the government to state-owned banks for any other purposes unless otherwise provided by law, does not accurately stipulate how “soon” the anti-graft agency may be legally obliged to forward such critical cases to court, the NIDA academic commented.
The Pheu Thai-led cabinets under the premiership of both Srettha and Paetongtarn had evidently juggled the 35 billion baht budget, earlier allocated for partial repayment of debt to five state-owned banks, to instead finance part of the 10,000-baht, “digital wallet” handout project, a flagship of Thaksin’s camp’s electoral campaign policies.
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Top and Front Page: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra and his daughter/Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Photos: Thai Rath
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