If impeached, Surapong, who is known to be close to Thaksin Shinawatra, would face a lifetime ban from politics under the new constitution.

The NLA agreed on Thursday to hear the closing statements next Wednesday and would decide the fate of Surapong the next day over allegations of malfeasance.

The former foreign minister has been accused of illegally returning two Thai passports to Thaksin, once a powerful leader of Pheu Thai and an ousted prime minister, who has been living in exile after being convicted in a land case.

His two passports – diplomatic and normal – had been revoked by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government shortly after the court’s verdict.

Surapong, who was present on Thursday during the hearing in parliament, had objected to the resolution by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) bringing the case against him. He said former NACC member Phakdee Pothsiri was disqualified, as he had not resigned from a private company 15 days before taking up his post at the NACC and hence his vote in the case should be considered invalid.

The NLA hearing committee on Thursday posed 24 questions to both the NACC and Surapong.

NACC representative Supa Piyachiti insisted that Phakdee was not disqualified, as Parliament had not impeached him on the question of his qualification.

Supa said returning the passports to the former PM breached the Foreign Ministry’s regulations prohibiting the issuance to terrorism suspects.

Supa said Thaksin was on the list of the banned people. She accused the ministry of not checking this fact, and instead expediting the issuance of the passports to Thaksin in one day.

She said the NACC saw the former minister as behind the move, making it impossible for concerned officials to object to such an illegal process.

Surapong refuted the allegations. He said the issuance of the passports was a political decision, which could differ with different ministers, and it was not from a legal perspective. He said in his view Thaksin was not a threat to the country.

He also said the ministry had tried to contact the Royal Thai Police as well as the court regarding the blacklist, but had received no response.

He insisted that the issuance followed the due process and it was possible to issue passports in one day as electronic data is easily accessible.