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Thai PM convicted by constitution court, losing premiership

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-09 18:53

BANGKOK - The Constitution Court of Thailand on Tuesday ruled Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej violated the charter by hosting cooking shows on TV programs after he took the premiership in January. The ruling means Samak's premiership is also revoked.

Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej arrives at the city hall in Udon Thani province, about 580 km (360 miles) east of Bangkok, September 9, 2008. [Agencies]

The court voted unanimously to give a guilty verdict against Samak and disqualified him as the prime minister.

In the one-hour open ruling, the court said all the nine judges considered Samak has broken the article 182 of the Constitution which prohibits prime minister or minister to be employee of any profiting company.

The court reasoned that the Constitution was aimed to prevent conflicts of interest on part of Cabinet members so Samak had violated in the intention of the charter although he host the programs on part-time basis.

The entire Cabinet also lost its status but other Cabinet members became caretaker ministers until new Cabinet is found, the court ruled.

Samak is the first premier whose status was revoked by court in Thai history.

A source from the People Power Party which is led by Samak told Xinhua after the ruling that Deputy Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat will take the post of acting prime minister of the caretaker cabinet.

The source said the parliament will open a special session on Wednesday to elect a new prime minister while the People Power Party has decided to support Samak to be the new prime minister again in the voting since Article 182 of the Constitution does not ban the breaker to be elected as the same post.

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Meanwhile, the ruling does not revoke Samak's MP (parliament member) status.

In May, a group of 29 Thai senators charged Samak with violating the constitution by continuing hosting two cooking shows called "Chim Pai Bon Pai" (Tasting and Complaining) and "Yok Khayong Hok Mong Chao" (Go Together in the Morning) on commercial televisions after he had been appointed prime minister on February 6.

Samak appeared before the Constitution Court Monday to refute the charges. "I consulted with legal counsel after I became prime minister, and they all agreed it was not a breach of the constitution if I was not a regular employee of a company," Samak told the court.

He said he had only hosted the show a few times after becoming prime minister and only on a freelance basis. He claimed he had passed the money he earned on to his driver.

However, in the considerations of the total nine judges, six considered Samak to be the "employee" while three others considered Samak a business partner of the studio, a constitutional offense in both cases.

The court said evidence presented by Samak that he was only given transport fees for hosting the show "contradicted" payment evidence by the studio, Face Media.

The court went strong on the principles laid down by the Constitution against conflicts of interests. The judges pointed out that using definitions of "employ", "employer" and "employee" from different laws are not enough to tell whether the will of the Constitution has been violated.