Pakdee survives impeachment bid
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Pakdee Pothisiri, a member of the National AntiCorruption Commission on Friday survived a bid to impeach him by 84 to 56 votes.
Pakdee was accused by Pheu Thai’s Bangkok MP and Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudit Nakhonthap of violating Article 248 of the Constitution for allegedly failing to resign from a private firm before accepting the NACC position.
However, 84 senators voted in his support while 56 senators voted for his impeachment.
The Constitution requires at least two thirds of the senators or 112 senators to impeach a member of any constitutionally sanctioned independent organisation.
In his complaint against Pakdee, Anudit alleged that Pakdee was a member of the board of directors of Thai Watana Pharmaceutical Dextrose when he was appointed to the NACC.
Anudit also accused Pakdee of having a conflict of interest when he took part in a graft probe against former public health minister Sudarat Keyuraphan because Pakdee used to be the permanent secretary for Public Health. Pakdee denied all the charges.
Political observers saw Pakdee’s impeachment bid as Pheu Thai testing its strength in the upper chamber against senators who support independent organisations before the party moves to try to cripple the organisations.
However, the defeat would seem to show that the Pheu Thai still lacks sufficient support to move against the independent organisations.
