Anti-coup campaigner Sombat Boonngamanong has called on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to order the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to unfreeze his bank account so that he can proceed with carrying out his new political party's procedures.
Speaking while visiting the Election Commission (EC) Monday to receive a certificate of registration of his "Kian" (a bay or sea) party, he claimed he is now required under the election law to open a new bank account but cannot because all of his existing bank accounts still are all still frozen under an NCPO order issued in 2014.
The order required him to report to the NCPO, which he refused to do, he said.
The court ordered him to pay a fine of 3,000 baht for flouting the order and he said had already paid the fine early this year; but his bank accounts have remained frozen even after he petitioned the Interior Ministry's Damrongtham centre over the matter several months ago.
He said he was wondering if he could simply use one million baht in cash to show the EC as proof of the party's establishment funds.
An informed source said a bank account is required in order to receive funds donated to the party by its supporters.
"If I really have to open a new bank account, I will then have to seek to meet Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha," Mr Sombat said. "Gen Prayut will not only have to return democracy to the country but also my bank accounts to me.
"Gen Prayut should know how much I have put up with after all these issues. It's been four years now. He had better stop pretending he doesn't know about them, he said. "[I can't wait any longer because] I have to take up a new role as the leader of the Kian Party and bring entertainment to Thai politics."
Mr Sombat earlier in May vowed to fight the EC's refusal to approve the registration of his Grin Party (or Krian Party, in Thai) which translates as "The Firebrands' Party".
His petition still is being considered by the Administrative Court.
Although he has now successfully registered a new party, he still has a lot of problems to deal with, he said.
The requirement for a party to find 500 members in 180 days, for instance, confused him, as he said he was not sure if the EC started counting from the day he came to pick up the party registration's certificate or when he submitted a request for the registration.
However, if it proves impossible for his party to get all these procedures done in time for the election, his group is prepared to wait for another local or national poll.
