Panel denies knowledge of deletion
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A member of the panel vetting the Article 190 amendment bill yesterday claimed that the committee did not know that the second reading would remove a provision for public hearings on trade agreements.
Pheu Thai MP Surawit Khonsomboon, who is also a member of the vetting panel, made this claim.
“We had to accept the voice of the majority during the second reading,” he said.
Surawit said details of the public hearings could be later added to an organic law of Article 190.
He said the Democrat Party had the right to file a petition with the Constitutional Court seeking an interpretation whether the amendments were unconstitutional. “The amendment bill is not a law that betrays the country as alleged by the Democrats,” Surawit added.
However, Democrat MP Chavanond Intharakomalyasut reiterated that the bill would betray the country. He said the Democrats on the vetting panel had agreed to accept the vetted version, but the coalition used its majority to change the draft further, thus making it a law that could lead to betrayal of the country.
