The NLA voted anonymously 182-7 to impeach Pracha, with two members abstaining. At least 131 votes, or three-fifths of 218 NLA members, are required to approve an impeachment.

Pracha was removed from his position after the 2014 coup when the democratically electedYingluck Shinawatra government he served was ousted by the military.

But this impeachment legally bans Pracha from holding political or bureaucratic office for five years, the same punishment Yingluck faced when also impeached by the military-appointed NLA last year over the rice-pledging farm-subsidy programme.

The vote came a day after the NLA heard closing statements from Pracha and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

In her closing statement, NACC member Supha Piyajitti told the NLA that Pracha abused his authority by calling the chairman of the board of directors of the Interior Ministry’s Marketing Organisation on November 11, 2012, to ask it to postpone a meeting scheduled to consider firing the organisation’s director. But the board went ahead with the meeting and proceeded to fire the director, Supha said.

She said Pracha, although a deputy minister, was not authorised to oversee the organisation and thus violated the 2007 charter prohibiting political office holders from interfering in the work of state firms.

However, Pracha insisted in his closing statement that he had authority to do so but had no intention to interfere with any party.

“This subject is only about different legal angles on my job description as a minister, and is in no way corruption,” he said.

An NLA source said many of those who voted to impeach Pracha were from academic, legal and NGO backgrounds and found Pracha’s explanation reluctant and unclear.