The Constitutional Court has voted 8-1 to suspend Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from performing his MP duty after it accepted a case against him over possible disqualification involving media shareholding.
The court unanimously decided on Thursday to accept the case in which the Election Commission (EC) asked it to deliberate whether Mr Thanathorn’s status as MP ended since he was holding shares in a media company when he applied to become an MP, a prohibition under Section 98 (3) of the Constitution.
The EC also asked the court to suspend him from duty until the court has a ruling.
“According to the documents supplied by the petitioner [EC], over the past 10 years, every time there was a change in shareholders, the company will submit a shareholder’s list with the date of the shareholders’ meeting to the registrar of Bangkok companies without delay. But this is not the case in this case and the date of the shareholders’ meeting was not specified when there was the change in the shareholders," the court said, referring to V-Luck Media Co Ltd, a company formerly owned by Mr Thanathorn.
“Besides, if the accused performs his duty, it could lead to legal issues and challenges, creating obstacles during the assembly of the House of Representatives. The court therefore ruled 8-1 to suspend him from performing his duty until it has a ruling," the court said in a statement.
Mr Thanathorn, who is among the 149 party-list MPs that have been endorsed, will have 15 days to respond and/or submit evidence after the court accepted the case.
The former auto-parts tycoon said at a briefing on Thursday evening he disagreed with the court’s decision.
He questioned the EC’s move in sending the case to the court, saying he had evidence an EC panel was still considering the case even after it was sent to the court.
“Why did the seven election commissioners rush to send the case to court? In a similar case involving former foreign minister Don Pramudwinai’s wife, the EC took 417 days to send the case to the court while in my case, it took 53 days.”
To his supporters, he urged them not to lose heart. “This is not a time for desperation but rather a time to stand up together.
“I’m still an MP and will continue to work with the people. They won’t allow me into Parliament so I’ll be with the people as someone who was trusted by 6.3 million voters,” he said.
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