Supreme Court suspends graft trial on lottery cases

The Supreme Court on Wedensday forwarded the defence arguments for the judicial review on relevant provisions relevant to the case.

As plaintiff, the Assets Examination Committee has named 47 defendants, including former prime minister Thaksin Shinwatra and his Cabinet, to fight graft charges relating to the illegal sale of two and threedigit lotteries.

To block the trial, the defence has put forward two arguments on charter provisions - one on the mandate of the AEC and another about the AEC's term of duty.

In the first argument, the defence contends that the AEC has been empowered by the junta to probe Cabinet members but it has expanded the case without authorisation to cover lottery officials and civil servants who are defendants No 31 to 47.

For the second argument, a legal question has been raised about the AEC's term extension to June. This happened after the 2005 Constitution came into effect. The defence contends that the charter has no provisions to sanction the AEC, hence its work should be deemed unconstitutional.

Under the judicial proceedings, the courts of justice are obliged to forward all arguments involving charter provisions for a ruling by the Constitution Court.

After the Constitution Court has ruled on the two issues, the trial can be reactivated.