FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Court ruling on anti-graft bill waiver not in line with spirit of charter: Jade

Court ruling on anti-graft bill waiver  not in line with spirit of charter: Jade

An adviser to the Constitution Drafting Commission, Jade Donavanik, said on Monday that the recent court ruling on the constitutionality of the waiver of a charter clause addressing disqualifications that some of the current anti-corruption commissioners have, did not adhere to the spirit of the Constitution.

The law expert also questioned whether the Constitutional Court, in coming up with its ruling, had performed its duty in protecting the charter, as it was obliged to do.
Jade said the court ruling had set a standard for writing an organic law which was not in line with the Constitution.
The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) in December voted to approve the new national anti-corruption bill, which contained an amendment to allow some of the current anti-graft commissioners with qualifications prohibited under the charter to stay in office.
Such a waiver via legal amendment prompted some 32 NLA members to petition the Constitutional Court to rule on whether it was indeed constitutional.
The court last Friday ruled that the clause in the bill as written was not unconstitutional.
Jade said the court may have focused principally on the bill’s content, while not adhering to the charter’s spirit.
However, this may allow politicians in the future to exploit the ruling in order to write the content of bills to benefit their own interests and damage those of the public, he warned.
A domino effect could follow, if some tried to exercise legal authority by using Friday’s ruling as a precedent for amending the critical organic MP election and Senate bills without taking constitutionality into consideration, he suggested. 
This, Jade said, could lead to a new political crisis, as issues concerning independent organisations were always sensitive as far as the public was concerned.
The NLA in this case may have had authority to enact an organic law, but the bill’s contents must not run counter the charter, he stressed.
As the Constitutional Court is the last resort for people to seek rulings in regard to constitutionality, the court could therefore be questioned as to whether or not it had performed its duty of protecting the charter, which it was obliged to do, the law expert added.
“The issue has gone too far to turn back, like we have pressed the wrong button on our shirt, and I am just worried that it will open a loophole for exploitation,” he explained.
Meanwhile, former anti-corruption commissioner Vicha Mahakun said that although the court ruling was not open to formal debate, only acceptance, it would be debated critically by academics, especially as to the point that the clause in question had been written to waive a requirement in the charter.
In the future, the anti-corruption commissioners would find it hard to proceed with their work as trust in them had become questionable, he said.
They would be “questioned back”, especially by politicians and senior officials subject to their corruption investigations, Vicha said, citing his own experience, where trust was the most important asset enabling national anti-graft commissioners to handle pressure put on them.
The problem has the potential to emerge during the transition of the government, from the ruling junta to an elected administration, he added.

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