Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong expressed concern today for the safety of witnesses, in the case of alleged voting collusion in the Senate election last June, if their identities are to be disclosed to the Special Case Committee of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
The 22 members of the committee, including Tawee, are scheduled to meet today to decide whether to accept the voting collusion allegation as a special case for investigation by the DSI. The votes of two-thirds of the committee are needed to accept the case.
The justice minister explained that the charges of criminal association, posing a national security threat, as proposed by the DSI, are not targeted at the Senate, but is legal terminology describing a group of people that are covering up illegal activities.
He claimed that there are six areas of the law concerning elections and political parties and that the Election Commission (EC) is bound by them in the performance of its duties.
As far as the investigation is concerned, he insists that other agencies, such as the police and the public prosecutors, have the authority to conduct the investigation.
Tawee said that, since there are allegations of voting collusion, and the fact that about 1.5 billion baht was spent on organising the election, it would beneficial to the Senate itself if such accusations were to be cleared up by the DSI.
He further explained that the investigation is not intended to fault all senators, but to uncover the truth about the election.
