Impeachment motion against Surapong and PM Yingluck
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The Democrat Party yesterday submitted an impeachment motion against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul over the issue of a passport to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Wirat Kalayasiri and Chaiwut Pongkaew, both Songkhla MPs, submitted the motion to Senate Speaker Thirdej Meepian. The motion was signed by 145 Democrat MPs.
In the motion, Surapong was accused of intentionally violating the directives of the Foreign Ministry by issuing a passport to Thaksin.
Yingluck was accused of nonfeasance for failing to revoke the passport issuance order when asked to.
The motion stated that Surapong violated three prohibitions for passport issuance.
Paragraph 2 of Article 21 of the directive on passport issuance of BE 2548 prohibits issuance of passport to anyone against whom there is an arrest warrant. The Democrats say there are arrest warrants against Thaksin in a terrorism case and five other cases.
Paragraph 3 of Article 21 of the same directive prohibits the issuing of a passport to a person ordered by the court not to leave the country.
Paragraph 4 of the article prohibits the issuing of a passport issuance to anyone who causes damage to the country. The motion pointed out that Thaksin had attacked Thailand, accusing the country of having double standards in the judicial system and lacking democracy.
The motion said the prime minister was asked by the Democrats on December 28 to revoke Thaksin’s passport but has done nothing and had insisted that the issuance was lawful.
The Democrats said they would file a charge with the National Anti-Corruption Commission against Yingluck and Surapong today or tomorrow.
