NACC takes aim at 38 former senators

‘Falsified’ bill backing intentional, says Vichai

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is insisting that 38 former senators facing impeachment intended to violate the constitution as they supported a charter change bill that was falsified.

The NACC said it is impossible they had no knowledge of the bill being altered in between readings at parliament.

NACC member Vichai Vivitsevi was speaking yesterday before the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) in a hearing on the impeachment case against the former senators.

Representatives of the NACC and the former senators have testified before the NLA since the first hearing began on Feb 25 and the NLA will vote whether to impeach the 38 former senators next Friday.

The NACC petitioned the NLA to impeach the ex-senators for their support of the 2013 charter amendment bill to change the Senate to a fully elected chamber.

The NACC’s petition is based on a Constitutional Court ruling in 2013 that the charter amendment bill was in breach of Section 68 of the 2007 charter which prohibits unconstitutional efforts to seize power.

Mr Vichai told the NLA that the NACC has sought the impeachment of the 38 former senators on only one count — violating the 2007 constitution.

He said that amending the charter was an important task, and the former 38 senators should have carried out their duties carefully and honestly.

Mr Vichai said it was impossible for them to have claimed that they did not know the bill had been altered in between readings at parliament.

He said there were two drafts of the amendment bill. The first was legal, but the second was the altered version.

Mr Vichai also said he was among the minority of the NACC members who believed the anti-graft body had no authority to seek the impeachment of the former senators because the charter has been abrogated.

But the NACC has assigned him to represent it in testifying before the NLA to show “fair play”, he said.

However, ex-senator Withaya Inaya, a representative of the former senators being sought for impeachment, maintained there was only one draft of the charter amendment bill, and it was not altered between readings.

There were last-minute changes to the draft, he said, but these were made prior to the inclusion of the bill on the senators’ meeting agenda.

Former Nonthaburi senator Direk Thuengfang yesterday rejected the allegations that the charter amendment by the former senators was an act of conflict of interest. He argued the 2007 charter stipulated the senators had the right to propose amendments to the charter.

Mr Direk said if the charter amendment was approved and a fully elected Senate had been established, it did not mean the senators who supported the amendment bill would run for election.

Conflict of interest would take place if and when they really stood for the Senate election, Mr Direk said.

Representatives of the NLA and the 38 ex-senators will deliver their closing statements on Wednesday, instead of Thursday as scheduled.