About 40 MPs face disqualification

At least 40 out of 61 sitting MPs are likely to be disqualified for holding stocks linked to state concessions, an Election Commission source said yesterday.

In its meeting today, the EC will consider the status of MPs - mostly from the opposition Pheu Thai and government coalition parties - named in a complaints filed by Senator Ruangkrai Leekitwattana and independent academic Somkid Homnate.

Six ministers are also included but they could resume their portfolios provided their shares aren't in media companies, the EC source said.

The six are Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart, Labour Minister Phaithoon Kaeothong, Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul, Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat, Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nop-amornbodi and Deputy Transport Minister Kuakul Danchaiwijit, according to the source.

It is up to EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond whether the EC rules today on the MPs or waits, the source said.

Supachai Jaisamut, deputy government spokesman and Bhum Jai Thai Party spokesman, when he was deputy spokesman for the People Power Party, also filed a complaint to the EC against 28 Democrat MPs. But the EC panel in charge has not finished its investigation.

EC member Prapun Naigowit said the EC would announce its decision without waiting for the Constitution Court's verdict on similar charges against 16 senators.

The EC does not prosecute anybody, he said.

The Constitution's ban on political officeholders holding shares in companies with state concessions was also written into the 1997 charter and not just drafted against any particular politician, he said.

Whether senators holding shares before assuming their positions would get to keep them would be up to the Constitution Court. But the EC would observe the same standard in considering senators, MPs and ministers, he said.

The EC last week ruled against 16 senators with shares in 14 companies - PTT, PTT Exploration and Production, PTT Chemical, TPI Polene, Electricity Generating, Ratchaburi Holding, Sahacogen (Chonburi), Shin Corp, Thaicom, True Corp, TT&T, Manager, Bangkok Mass Transit System and Bangkok Expressway.

The disqualifications of the 16 senators would need endorsement by the Constitution Court before taking effect.