Published on May 30, 2005

The Democrat Party yesterday threatened to initiate an impeachment motion against the remaining eight members of the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), saying it was confident of getting the required backing of 125 MPs.

“We will give them some more time to consider their situation. But if they still insist on clinging to their posts, we will start gathering signatures for the impeachment,” Democrat spokesman Ong-art Klampaiboon said.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions handed down a suspended jail term to all nine NCCC members for illegally awarding themselves a pay rise. One of the nine, Pinit Arayasiri, announced on Friday that he was stepping down, but the eight other commissioners have not followed suit.

Ong-art did not specify a deadline by which his party expected the eight to resign. “To be optimistic, I expect them to resign soon,” he said.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he believed the eight NCCC members would step down because their convictions barred them from carrying out NCCC duties.

Under section 300 of the Constitution, the accused members of the NCCC could not perform their duties until the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions dismissed the cases against them.

“If they can’t work in their positions, what is the point of clinging to the posts?” Abhisit asked.

If they did not resign soon, he and Ong-art were confident of gathering the support of 125 MPs for the impeachment.

At least one quarter of all MPs, or at least 125 MPs, is required to initiate an impeachment motion against the NCCC members. However, the Opposition has only 123 MPs.

Ong-art expressed confidence that he would be able to persuade at least two government MPs to join the move.

He said the selection of new NCCC members should begin immediately, without having to wait for the eight to resign.

However, the process has hit a stumbling block because the Constitution requires that five representatives from five political parties with MPs in the House of Representatives sit on the 15-member selection panel.

There are currently only four parties in the House.

Ong-art suggested the Constitution be amended to remove the impasse.

“We only need to remove the clause about having five representatives from five political parties,” he said, adding that he had discussed the proposed amendment with the Chat Thai Party.

Chat Thai deputy leader Nikorn Chamnong said relevant parties should be able to conclude the legal amendments by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, legal expert Meechai Ruchuphan suggested on his website yesterday that a legal amendment was not the only choice.

“Legally speaking, we interpret laws for practical use,” he said. “If we have only four political parties now, representatives from four parties sitting on the selection panel should be enough, in the circumstances, so that the work can be done.”

The chief government whip, Pongthep Thepkanjana, said legal experts from the ruling party would meet at 10am today to deliberate on whether 14 members on the selection panel for new NCCC members was enough.

In a related development, the secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy, Suriyasai Katasila said his alliance would set up desks in front of NCCC headquarters today to ask passers-by to sign a petition calling for the resignation of all the commissioners.

“The petition will be handed to the NCCC members,” he said.

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