The court also banned Wassana, 67, and Prinya, 68, from being involved in elections for 10 years.

The suit that led to the punishments was filed by former Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban and was also levelled against former EC member Veerachai Naewboonnian, who later passed away.

The suit said the three defendants were negligent as they had failed to take swift legal action following the EC sub-panel’s probe into allegations Thai Rak Thai had hired the Paendin Thai Party and the Pattana Chat Thai Party to contest the April 2, 2006 election to avoid having competitors in several constituencies.

The election law stipulated that for any constituency with only one MP candidate, the winning MP must win more than 20 per cent of the vote.

The defendants denied the charges.

On September 15, 2006 the Criminal Court sentenced the three men to three years in prison and banned them from politics for 10 years, but commuted the sentences to two years without a suspension on the grounds the defendants cooperated during the trial.

The Court of Appeals on May 14, 2008 upheld the lower court decision. During the appeal Veerachai passed away.

The Supreme Court ruled that the EC’s fact-finding panel found that there were grounds to believe that executives of Thai Rak Thai, Paendin Thai and Pattana Chat Thai committed wrongdoings.

The defendants failed to take action against former Thai Rak Thai executives even though the EC fact-finding panel reported that witnesses testified that former executives paid kickbacks to small parties to contest the election.

They instead ordered another probe to be held, prolonging the investigation, while they punished EC officials who had altered registration information about MP candidate qualifications on being party members for 90 days to favour Thai Rak Thai.

The court said the defendants also hurriedly announced the April 2 election so Thai Rak Thai could quickly form a government.

The court ruled that the |defendants had violated articles |24 and 42 of the Election Law Act 1998.

The court ruled out the defendants’ request for suspended jail terms on the grounds they failed to carry out their duties with honesty and integrity in the interests of the country.

The court dismissed claims that the men had greatly contributed to the country and they could not survive jail terms because of their old age and poor health.

Wassana and Prinya, who appeared at the court using walking sticks, showed no emotion as the court read the verdict.

EC officials, both current and former, turned up to provide them moral support while prison officials escorted them to Bangkok Special Prison.