The EC has not questioned outgoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra over charges that the party hired small parties to run in the inconclusive April 2 election, as suggested by the panel headed by Nam Yimyaem.

Prinya said it was too late for the EC to question more witnesses, unless the Office of Attorney-General decided not to seek a Constitutional Court ruling, then a joint committee could be set up to further investigate the case.

Asked why the EC had not questioned Thaksin about the matter, Prinya said the EC had instructed Nam's panel to do so, and he did not know why it had not. According to Article 19 of Election Commission Act, the EC must question the leader of any party that it seeks to disband. The EC followed the law by questioning the party leaders when it sought to disband the Thai Ground Party and the Pattana Chart Thai Party. It also summoned Democrat Party Abhisit Vejjajiva for questioning on accusations that it had hired small parties to slander the ruling party and had attempted to bring down government.

Sources said because Thaksin had not been questioned, the argument to disband Thai Rak Thai was weak. This could likely cause the Office of Attorney-General (OAG) or Constitution Court to reject hearing the case.

Without Thaksin being questioned, the case lacked the evidence linking the move to hire small parties to run in the April 2 election to the party's leader.

OAG spokesman Attapol Yaisawang yesterday said he was confident the Election Commission (EC) would re-submit the investigation file and suggested charges and penalties against Thai Rak Thai party by next Tuesday.

Attapol said after the OAG returned the investigation to the EC, the EC public relations director Police Colonel Prasert Suthison had said he would comply with the OAG's suggestion.

"It is a good sign that the political party registrar will give his full cooperation. We hope the EC will also help by returning the investigation file and clarifying the grounds for dissolving Thai Rak Thai by next Tuesday,'' he said.

The EC had not specified any legal grounds for dissolving the Thai Rak Thai Party, but did ask why two small parties, Thai Ground and Pattana Chart Thai, should have been disbanded.

The OAG would have to strictly follow Sections 66 and 67 of the Political Party Act to determine whether the party had violated the law and whether a motion to dissolve it should be moved so the matter can be referred to the Constitution Court.

Meanwhile, Prasob Bussarakham, a Thai Rak Thai legal expert, said the party's legal team was confident the party would not be dissolved, because individual party members - and not the party itself - had committed the crime.

He said the charges against Thai Rak Thai were not clear and were different from the charges against the two small parties that the EC said there are grounds to disband.

"The leaders of the two parties were accused of being involved in the wrongdoing from the start,'' he said.