Constitution court to rule on Varathep's status on Feb 1

The Constitution Court is scheduled to rule on February 1 on the status of PM's Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn, the court's chief spokesman Pimol Thampitak said yesterday.

Pimol said the meeting had discussed the group of 24 appointed senators petitioning Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanij to examine whether the appointment of Prime Minister's Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn is in violation of Section 174 (5) of the charter.

Section 174 (5) states that a minister must not have been sentenced to prison and not appointed before five years of serving the sentence, unless the crime is due to carelessness.

Pimol said in his petition that Varathep had been banned from politics by the Supreme Court on September 30, 2009 and had received a two-year suspended sentence in a corruption case involving the two- and three-digit lottery scheme during his term as deputy finance minister. This effectively disqualifies Varathep.

Pimol said the meeting resolved that discussions about the facts of the case had been concluded but dissection of law-related issues were yet to be concluded hence the court had scheduled Feb 1.