Huge NLA vote impeaches Surapong
Thaksin passport move earns 5-year ban
The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted overwhelmingly yesterday to retroactively impeach former foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul for reinstating former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s passport.
The assembly voted 231-4 with three abstentions to impeach Mr Surapong. The NLA needed only 150 votes to impeach.
As a consequence, the former Pheu Thai Party MP is banned from government and political positions for five years.
Mr Surapong is the fifth former Pheu Thai member impeached by the NLA, which was formed after the military coup in 2014. More NLA members voted to impeach him than for the other four, who include former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) submitted its resolution for his impeachment to the NLA last month, after a finding he committed an act of dereliction of duty in violation of Section 157 of the Criminal Code by reinstating Thaksin’s passport in 2011, when he was the foreign minister.
On Wednesday, the NLA held a session in which the NACC and Mr Surapong made their closing statements on the case.
NACC member Supa Piyajitti underlined the finding, accusing Mr Surapong of abusing his power to help Thaksin, who at the time faced arrest warrants on several charges. Ms Supa told the NLA meeting the Foreign Ministry revoked Thaksin’s official and regular passports in December 2008, blacklisted him, and sent notifications on the matter to all foreign countries.
However, his regular passport was reinstated in October 2011 with the approval of Mr Surapong, the foreign minister at the time, to allow Thaksin to travel to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Ms Supa said, adding this step had harmed the country’s reputation.
Mr Surapong argued the NACC’s accusation was groundless and the complaint filed against him by former Democrat Party MP Wiratana Kalayasiri was illegal and incomplete. He also alleged one of the NACC members handling the case was not qualified to serve on it. The authority to issue passports rests with the permanent secretary for foreign affairs, not the foreign minister, he added.
Observers noted Mr Surapong’s impeachment case was the last one investigated by the NACC and that he was the last politician impeached by the NLA under the 2014 interim charter. Since the Senate has been dissolved since the 2014 coup, the interim charter has allowed the NLA to assume its authority to impeach.
However, the new constitution, which is pending royal endorsement, removes the Senate’s impeachment power. Instead, the new charter requires the NACC to submit investigations directly to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office-Holders.
Any political office-holders found guilty by the court will be banned from running in elections for life.