FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Future Forward asks court to dismiss loan case 

Future Forward asks court to dismiss loan case 

Future Forward Party secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul came out today (February 18) to rebut the Bt191-million loan accusation against the party before a hearing takes place on February 21.

Piyabutr said Future Forward was approved as an official party on October 3, 2018, and immediately began a campaign seeking funds and donations “since the law of political parties and elections required parties to take several steps in order to propose candidates”.
Meanwhile, the National Council for Peace and Order forbade political activities and the Election Commission (EC) ordered parties to only receive donations from their executive boards, so Future Forward had to wait until December 2018 before the political limitation was lifted, Piyabutr said.
He said political parties could take loans since they were not income or donations but debt.
Moreover, the EC procedure was unjustified, since it did not give his party an opportunity to explain their actions, Piyabutr added.
He said the Constitutional Court cannot dissolve the party based on Section 210 of the Constitution since the dissolution verdict only appears in Section 92. He therefore asked the court to dismiss the case.
Regarding other accusations under Section 62, 66 and 72, Piyabutr confirmed that the Future Forward Party did not violate the Constitution and any penalty under those sections would not result in dissolution.

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