The Election Commission (EC) has not looked into whether Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit violated election law in relation to his false biography published on the party's website.
EC deputy secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said yesterday that the office has yet to check whether anyone filed a complaint against Mr Thanathorn. But in case of doubt, the EC has the power to check itself.
Mr Thanathorn is facing a fresh legal wrangle over false information, which appeared on his profile on the party's website -- a violation which could see him banned from politics for 20 years.
According to the profile, Mr Thanathorn served as president of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) for two consecutive terms between 2008 and 2012. But after netizens checked, he disclosed that he had never held the post.
The false information remained on the website for five months before it was noticed recently, leading to heavy criticism from his political rivals.
On Wednesday, the information on his profile was corrected to show that Mr Thanathorn served as president of the FTI's Nakhon Nayok chapter between 2007 and 2011. The false information which appeared on Wikipedia was also changed the same day.
The party's spokeswoman, Pannika Wanich, said she did not believe the case would be a big deal.
"[The party] admitted that the profile on the website was wrong, but it was corrected within two hours after acknowledgement of the mistake. It was not intentional deception as has been alleged," she said.
"Mr Thanathorn's biography is ubiquitous on the internet, people can find it easily," she said.
Mr Sawaeng said earlier that if any false information is found and a complaint is lodged with the EC over the issue, the watchdog will then look into the motive for keeping the false information on the website for five months, adding this could be deemed as an act of fraud and could violate Section 73(5) of the law on the election of MPs.
The section prohibits poll candidates from giving voters misleading information about themselves.
Violators are liable to a jail term of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to 200,000 baht, and they will have their rights to run in elections suspended for 20 years as stipulated by Section 159.
Separately, Mr Sawaeng said the EC has set up committees to monitor online election campaigns.
They will look out for for aggressive and provocative content or mudslinging that can lead to hatred as well as false information, he said.
Meanwhile, Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, deputy director of the police centre for combatting technological crimes, said police and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission have set up a war room to monitor wrongful use of social media.
"Users of social media must be careful not to cause damage to any other people as well as their reputation, or cause chaos to the country. Since the start of the year, over 50 people have been arrested for posting fake news and rumours that caused panic," he said.
"We can take legal action even if the offences are committed overseas," he warned.
