The commission would also seek impeachment for two of the three former politicians in relation to the case, NACC member Supa Piyajitti said yesterday. Impeachment would lead to five-year political bans.

The three are former Sakon Nakhon MP Narisorn Thongthiras, former Nonthaburi MP Udomdej Ratanasatien and former Parliament president Somsak Kiatsuranont, who is also a politician from the then-ruling Pheu Thai Party.

The NACC found evidence to press charges against the three, including footage and witness testimonies, after an investigative subcommittee yesterday submitted findings to the commission, according to a source.

Narisorn is accused of voting illegally on behalf of absent colleagues during a House meeting. Udomdej is accused of switching a different version of the charter draft amendment submitted to the Parliament for the first reading. Somsak is accused of ignoring and condoning the alleged malfeasance.

The anti-graft commission will refer the case to the Attorney-General’s Office, which will forward it to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions if there are sufficient grounds. Supa yesterday said the NACC would also seek a decision from the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on whether Narisorn and Udomdej should be impeached for their alleged wrongdoing. The two would be suspended from politics for five years if the NLA voted for impeachment.

Two cleared of malfeasance

In his defence, Udomdej said yesterday he had simply “revised” the original constitutional amendment before the Parliament president tabled it for House deliberation.

“I did not falsify the draft amendment. It was just revised before the Parliament president tabled it for House deliberation. I would not have done it if it could not be done,” he said.

The politician said he had already told the NACC the circumstances when he was questioned about the case.

In the same malfeasance case, the NACC sub-panel also investigated two other Pheu Thaipoliticians – former Maha Sarakham MP Yuttapong Jarassathien and former Kalasin MP Khomdej Chaisiwamongkol. No evidence was found to indict either of them, according to Supa.

In 2013, under the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, Pheu Thai proposed a charter amendment to make all senators elected. The party considered the 2007 constitution, written after the 2006 coup, to be undemocratic since it stipulated that half of the Senate seats were appointed. However, the Constitutional Court rejected the proposal in 2013.

The court will submit separate letters to concerned parties including the National Legislative Assembly, the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) and the Cabinet, asking each to submit additional opinions and related documents on the issue by Monday.

The Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on whether the changes made by the CDC to the original charter draft comply with the referendum results. In the plebiscite, voters approved of allowing handpicked senators to join elected MPs in choosing a prime minister for a five-year term after the next Parliament convenes.

The court has 30 days to finish deliberations and rule on the legality of the revised draft.

Meanwhile, the CDC will ask concerned parties to review the document and give their opinions on the ongoing enactment of organic laws needed before the next election.

CDC chief Meechai Ruchupan said the CDC had received a bill concerning political parties from the Election Commission (EC) and would begin considering it.

He added that the CDC had not taken a stance on the draft bill’s proposals because it needed to consider the text based on what was written in the charter.

Under the draft bill, the EC proposed that political parties would not be easily dissolved as in the past. The only condition under which a party would be dissolved would be if a party fails to field constituency candidates.

Meechai added that actions by political parties deemed to violate the bill, including threats to national security, should ultimately be decided by the Constitutional Court, not the EC.

He responded to an NRSA proposal that the Interior Ministry should jointly organise the general election by saying the EC could ask for the ministry’s support through existing regulations.

He said that the CDC had nothing to do with a proposal for an experimental local election before the general election to test a joint election authority, including the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). However, he said the NCPO had authority to oversee such an election.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said Meechai had assigned staff members to study India’s organisation of general elections, which are supervised by only one commissioner, adding that the method was not as peculiar as some people had speculated.

The draft charter, he said, specified that the EC would include seven commissioners, suggesting that the CDC’s study would not lead to a restructuring of the EC – as has been speculated – following the enactment of the organic laws.

NDM key figure Rangsiman Romec was speaking on the one-month anniversary of the August 7 referendum on the charter draft.

Rangsiman, 24, said only a month after the referendum approval, there were signs Prime MinisterPrayut Chan-o-cha would try to prolong his tenure.

“A new political party [Paiboon Nititawan’s People’s Reform Party] has been formed, apparently to push Prayut to take the helm again and the general has not [denied] that speculation,” said the activist.

Another sign of Prayut‘s ambition, he added, was the National Legislative Assembly’s move to support the military-appointed Senate to be eligible for nominating prime ministerial candidates.

Rangsiman said the NLA’s proposal was not in line with the approved referendum’s extra question, which the public understood permitted only the Senate to jointly select a premier.

Meanwhile, Rome claimed, an additional 30 NLA members would be appointed and a 20-year strategy put in place to carry on the junta’s intentions.

“What Prayut does will determine the extent of his popularity. Personally, I believe the people’s support for Prayut will decline because of his actions [to further take control of the office].”

Though the majority accepted the draft charter, Rangsiman said, Prayut could not claim the referendum results to legitimise his prolonged tenure because the endorsement did not mean the people wanted him to further take over the country.

Rome said as the organic laws were still being drafted, the NDM would closely monitor the process and inform the public.

A source from the Justice Ministry said Sondhi had not received special treatment although many people view him as a “VIP inmate”.

“He is treated the same way as other inmates,” the source said.

Thawatchai Chaiwat, chief of Klong Prem Central Prison, where Sondhi is imprisoned, also denied yesterday that well-known inmates such as Sondhi lived in air-conditioned rooms.

“You can come and see for yourself if there are air-conditioned or special cells at Klong Prem,” the prison chief said.

Sondhi is being held in the same cell as Viroj Nualkhair, a former banker who was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in August last year for bank loan fraud, according to the prison chief.

The prison chief said newcomers often need time to get used to a life behind bars, so they are initially put in cells with inmates who have already spent time in prison.

“With roommates, they can adapt better and have someone to talk |to. Some can adapt within seven |days, while others can’t do so even after a month in prison,” Thawatchai said.

The Corrections Department said yesterday that Sondhi did not have health problems that would require him to be taken to hospital.

The agency dismissed reports that Sondhi had become seriously ill dur?ing his first night behind bars and had to be rushed to hospital inside the com?pound of Klong Prem Central Prison.

“He is still under detention at the Klong Prem Central Prison and his health is in a good condition,” the department said in a statement.

Sondhi was moved from the Bangkok Remand Prison, where |he was detained shortly after the Supreme Court upheld the 20-year |jail sentence issued by a lower court.

The Bangkok Remand Prison is only allowed to detain convicts facing less than 15 years in prison, while the Klong Prem Central Prison can hold prison?ers sentenced to longer terms, a source from the Justice Ministry said.

Due to his qualifications, Sondhi may be assigned a teaching job or work as an assistant to prison officials, the source said.

On Tuesday, Sondhi and two |former colleagues were sentenced |to 20 years in prison for forging corporate docu?ments to apply for a Bt1.07-billion loan from Krungthai Bank in 1997.

According to the department, the two others convicted in the same case – former Manager Media Group exec?utives Yupin Chanthana and Saowaluk Thiranuchanyong — had unspecified chronic diseases, although their blood pressure was normal. The two women, who were being held at the Central Women Correctional Institution, would be checked by prison doctors, the department said.

THE ABSENCE of convicted media magnate Sondhi Limthongkul, who once successfully mobilised hundreds of thousands of yellow-shirt protesters to oust one of the country’s most powerful prime ministers, might not have implications for future political movements because the public has become more politically mature and no longer needs particular leaders to spur protests, analysts have said.

The Supreme Court sentenced Sondhi, 68, on Tuesday to 20 years in prison for forging corporate documents in 1997, which violated the Securities and Exchange Act.

The conviction has spurred a series of conversations among political observers. However, the harsh sentence has done little to unnerve Sondhi followers who joined his group under the now-defunct People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), commonly known as the “yellow shirts” in 2006 when they staged street protests to remove former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

“Over the last 10 years, Thai people have learned about and been aware of political movements. And now or in the future, they will join protests because of their strong faith in the power of the people to fight against state irregularities and corruption, rather than follow any figures who dominate or hire them,” Thammasat University political scientist Prajak Kongkirati said.

He added that even though Sondhi would not be able to mobilise anti-Thaksin demonstrators while he is in jail, a new leader would appear if there is a “critical situation”, such as the abuse of power by leaders or a dictatorship.

Prior to the 2006 coup, Sondhi, the founder of Manager Media Group, along with fellow PAD leaders exposed huge irregularities and corruption scandals linked to the Thaksin government, which was dubbed the “Thaksin regime”.

Sondhi drew hundreds of thousands of demonstrators nationwide to stage anti-Thaksin rallies, which led to the 2006 coup that toppled the government. Then in 2008, the PAD shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport in protest against the government of Thaksin’s brother-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat. In 2013, the PAD dissolved itself, signalling an end to its mission.

“The yellow shirts became supporters of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee [PDRC] or the Democrat Party, as the three groups have the common enemy, which is the Thaksin regime. There is a blurred line between these three groups of supporters,” Prajak said.

Suriyasai Katasila, a former key PAD figure and political scientist at Rangsit University, said future political movements would not require traditional leaders to mobilise protesters on the streets because of the power of social media.

“People can gather in another, different form of demonstration. They can use social media for future political movements,” he said.

Even though Sondhi would be absent for at least several years, former PAD members would still have their own ways to fight irregularities, Suriyasai said.

He added that PAD supporters included various activist groups. Although yellow shirt protesters did not continue to take action under the PAD umbrella, they were still active in their own groups fighting for issues they were interested in such as the environment and opposing corruption, Suriyasai said.

Former members have kept in touch because they were deeply engaged with leaders and their relationship was more like a family rather than protest leaders and followers, the former PAD leader said.

Regarding pending lawsuits against Sondhi and other PAD leaders, including a civil case in which Airports of Thailand has pressed for more than Bt500 million in compensation for damages inflicted during the airport shutdown, the remaining leaders involved would continue fighting the cases without Sondhi’s support, he said.

He added that Sondhi had prepared himself for the sentence and had not panicked, and that he believed that Sondhi could endure the prison term because of his peace of mind.

Pheu Thai former MP Watana Muangsoook said he believed future street protests were unlikely to take place because people have learned that political unrest leads to coups and military regimes, including in 2014 when military leaders led by the current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha deposed the government of Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Watana said he felt sympathy for Sondhi, although his party has been in conflict with him in the past.

However, an NACC panel is expected to reach a conclusion on the charges and on the 2010 red-shirt crackdown case this month, Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnratchakit said.

Former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and three others are accused of malfeasance in connection with the crackdown on People’s Alliance for Democracy protesters in October 2008. Two people died and many were injured when police used tear gas to clear protesters who had blockaded Government House to prevent Somchai from entering.

Somchai and the other accused have presented new evidence to the NACC and called on the agency to drop the charges.

Watcharapol said that the NACC had not yet examined the new evidence, having decided the case should be deliberated alongside the one relating to the 2010 crackdown.

In that case, the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) petitioned for theNACC to reinstate charges against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other senior figures who in 2010 allegedly approved military action against civilian protesters, which saw scores killed and thousands injured. The agency earlier had dismissed the case.

Watcharapol said the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) was pursuing legal action and an investigation independent of the UDD’s petition.

He added that both cases should be discussed jointly so that the panel could compare the details of each. Both sides had pleaded with the NACC for justice and the cases shared a similar context, he added.

The NACC would consider whether petitioners had presented new evidence, Watcharapol said, adding that it was unlikely that the agency would reconsider a case unless such evidence had emerged.

He said an executive order would be issued authorising the Department of Legal Execution to seize the assets if state officials and politicians were found guilty under the civil liability law.

According to the deputy premier, the Commerce Ministry, which is responsible for filing civil liability lawsuits against the suspects, might not have the resources to confiscate the assets, so the task has to be given to the Department of Legal Execution.

Wissanu said the move was not targeting any particular former politician, but since the statute of limitations in these cases is short, the government has no choice but to accelerate the process.

According to the Commerce Ministry, former commerce minister Boonsong, his deputy Poom Sarapol, their secretaries as well as two senior Commerce officials were responsible for the signing of bogus G-to-G rice deals with Chinese entities. This was in connection with the YingluckShinawatra-led government’s rice-pledging scheme, which resulted in estimated damages of more than Bt20 billion.

Former premier Yingluck is also facing criminal and civil liability lawsuits in relation to the rice-pledging scheme.

Wissanu said suspects in the fake G-to-G rice deal case might file a petition with the Administrative Court to overturn the order on asset confiscation or seek an injunction. Previously, there were about 3,000 cases involving the seizure of assets worth between Bt2 million and Bt5 million in each of the cases, and they were not too complicated for authorities to proceed.

“In cases involving this rice-pledging scheme or tapioca or maize schemes, we have found that each of the ministries concerned are not able to proceed. As a result, we need a specialist agency to do the task. In principle, we need to seize the assets first, even though the court may issue an injunction on that executive order. In this case, we may need absolute authority under Article 44 for the Department of Legal Execution to help expedite the asset seizure like what we did in the Phu Thap Boek resort case,” Wissanu said.

THE Election Commission submitted a new law on political parties to the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) yesterday which would preserve existing parties – despite calls recently for all parties to be disbanded, so Thai politics can be reset.

The bill stipulates that it should be difficult for parties to be set up, maintained or dissolved, as that would help to institutionalise and strengthen them, EC member Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said yesterday after a five-hour meeting at the EC’s central office.

Under the proposed bill, there would need to be at least 5,000 members registered nationwide for a new party to be set up. However, the rule would not apply to existing parties, which would be allowed to continue operating despite suggestions to the contrary, Somchai said.

Parties’ main sources of funding should come from annual membership fees and donations, according to the bill, which stipulates that each party member should pay a fee of at least Bt200 annually while supporters could donate up to Bt500 a year.

The bill also introduces a primary system in which candidates would be nominated by party branches for the board to select before standing in an election, he said.

A party would lose its political status and be dissolved only if it does not field candidates, Somchai said.

Authorities such as the Constitutional Court could not order the dissolution of parties, but they could remove party board members or the party leader from office if they were found guilty of breaching the constitution or relevant organic laws, he added.

Party officials should also not allow outside influences and should present their policy plans to the EC before campaigning, he said, adding that if they failed to do so, they could be removed from office.

“Reset” rejected

The bill would be finalised by the CDC, Somchai said. All four bills necessary to hold an election would be completed and forwarded to the Cabinet this month, he added.

CDC spokesman Norachit Sinhaseni said drafters were open to any suggestions in regard to organic laws, so politicians, state officials, civil society and the general public were welcome to submit recommendations.

According to the constitutional draft passed in last month’s referendum, the CDC must write 10 organic laws, four of which relate to political structures and elections.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has said he wants the poll-related laws to be completed within two months, or as soon as possible.

Disathat Hotrakit, secretary-general of the Council of State, said yesterday the council had already sent experts to help the CDC write the organic laws. The government had not submitted any suggestions in regard to that, he added.

Surachai Liengboonlertchai, a vice president of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), said the assembly had also started work.

Relevant panels have been assigned to study issues concerning the organic laws currently being drafted, as well as previous ones written after the 2007 Constitution, he said.

The NLA would be ready to finish deliberating under the specified timetable of 60 days after the CDC submits the bills to the assembly, he said.

With responsible agencies drafting the four organic laws needed to hold an election, there have been frequent demands that politics should be “reset” by dissolving all existing parties.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that anyone could suggest anything and the CDC and the government would listen to all comments.

“If it was a good idea, then great. If it wasn’t, then we just ignore it. Otherwise, society would be full of conflict,” Wissanu said yesterday, on whether existing parties should be dissolved.