The Election Commission (EC) has resolved to ask the Constitutional Court to rule if three incumbent ministers and a former minister should be disqualified from office due to potential conflicts of interest.
Science and technology minister Suvit Maesincee, deputy transport minister Pailin Chuchottaworn, education minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, and former Prime Minister's Office minister ML Panadda Diskul have been found to hold shares in private companies that are state concessionaires.
The practice is prohibited under sections 186 and 184 of the 2017 constitution and if the allegations are proven, the law states they must be removed from office and could be banned from electoral activities for up to 10 years.
The decision to seek the Constitutional Court's ruling on the four individuals was confirmed by EC president Ittiporn Boonpracong, but he has refused to share the details about the findings or if the vote was unanimous.
"In making the decision, we took into account previous court rulings. For similar cases [such as this one] which are not exactly the same, we thought it best to let the court decide," he said.
Thai Raksa Chart Party member Ruangkrai Leekitwattana submitted a petition to the EC, demanding the probe against the four based on the asset declarations of the ministers, and, by law, the EC had to look into the case.
Earlier, foreign minister Don Pramudwinai faced disqualification after his wife was found to have more than 5% of shares in a private company and had failed to inform the National Anti-Corruption Commission within 30 days.
The EC also voted to send his case to the Constitutional Court, which cleared him in October.
Based on Mr Ruangkrai's petition, ML Panadda owns 6,000 shares of Airports of Thailand Plc, operator of Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and other airports.
Mr Suvit has 90,000 shares in Global Power Synergy Plc, a holding company of power-generation subsidiaries of PTT Plc, that operates state energy concessions.
Mr Pailin, a former CEO of PTT Plc, has 5,000 shares in energy giant PTT Plc and more in its subsidiaries. Mr Teerakiat has 5,000 shares in Siam Cement Plc.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday whether the three ministers will be suspended depends on the court but they can choose to suspend themselves or resign if they want to.
