EC panel to review poll fraud report
An ad-hoc panel is set to review a report that alleges nine people linked to the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party were involved in fraud related to last year's general election, the Election Commission (EC) chairman said yesterday.
Apichart Sukhagganond said the report by the previous special panel under Nam Yimyaem had been concluded in mid-2006, before he assumed the EC chairmanship. As a result, he wants to check the investigation and evidence before filing a complaint against the nine with the police. The review will be finished in a week, he said. Among the nine people alleged to have been involved in electoral fraud are former Thai Rak Thai executives Thamarak Isarangura and Pongsak Ruktapongpisal, whom the Constitution Tribunal found guilty on May 30 of hiring small parties to run the April 2, 2006 poll. The EC is reportedly also checking whether executives of parties dissolved by the tribunal had committed criminal or electoral offences. The executives comprise 111 from Thai Rak Thai, nine from the Progressive Democratic Party, three from the Thai Ground Party and 19 from the Pattana Chart Thai Party.
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