Political activist Srisuwan Janya said today that he will lodge a complaint on Monday asking the Election Commission (EC) to take legal action against former Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and former executive committee members, after the Constitutional Court dissolved the party and banned its executives from politics for ten years over a loan controversy.
The secretary-general of the Thai Constitution Protection Association said that, under the organic law on political parties, Thanathorn is liable to imprisonment of five years and/or a fine of 100,000 baht and having his voting rights withdrawn for five years.
He noted that the organic law also forbids the use of donations, contributions from fund raising activities and revenues from the sale of party’s souvenirs for anything other than for political activities.
Since the party used the money to repay the loan received from Thanathorn, Srisuwan said the executive committee and Thanathorn are liable to imprisonment.
Now that the Constitutional Court has announced its verdict, the political activist said that the EC must proceed with legal action against Thanathorn and the former executive committee members in the Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, government spokeswoman Mrs. Narumon Pinyosinwat said today that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has decided to delete from his Facebook and Twitter accounts his comment regarding the Constitutional Court’s decision on the loan controversy after it generated mixed reactions.
She said the Prime Minister decided to take down the comment to prevent the conflict of opinions getting out of control.
In the comment, the Prime Minister asked the public to respect the court’s decision and suggested supporters of the Future Forward party explore other mechanisms to check the performance of the government.
A responsible opposition will be useful for the country and the people and will help develop a democratic system with the King as the head of state, said the Prime Minister in his online comment.
