Arrest warrant issued for former EC member

Suthep Thaugsuban, former secretary-general of the Democrat Party, had sued Parinya as well as Wassana Permlarp, former EC chairman, and Veerachai Naewboonnian, another former EC member, for alleged dereliction of duty for failing to investigate a now-defunct predecessor of the Pheu Thai Party.

The Thai Rak Thai Party was accused of hiring the Paendin Thai Party and Pattana Chart Thai Party to field candidates for the April 2, 2006, election.

Suthep said the three must investigate the complaint according to the EC’s regulations. The defendants denied the charges.

Wassana attended the hearing with his close aides and former EC members. Parinya did not show.

The court ruled that Parinya had assigned his lawyer to ask in writing for a postponement of the hearing of the ruling and a medical certificate from King Mongkut Hospital, indicating that he has been seeking treatment at the hospital for inflammatory bowel disease. 

However, the court said the certificate did not state that he was too sick to appear at the hearing.

The court said Parinya showed intent to delay the case and issued the arrest warrant for him to hear the ruling. 

The court confiscated his Bt120,000 bail and rejected his petition to postpone the verdict reading.

Suthep submitted a request to the court on April 5 to drop the case against Parinya. 

Parinya also entered a plea of mitigation or right of allocution. 

The court on Tuesday submitted the two petitions to the Supreme Court, which has reached a decision. The Supreme Court’s decision will be read on June 3.

While Wassana was attending the hearing, he banned the media from taking his picture, and asked the court to do the same.

The Criminal Court in September 2006 found the three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to two years in jail each and banned them from elections for 10 years. 

The Appeals Court in May 2008 upheld the ruling. During the appeal to the Supreme Court, Veerachai died.