Pita returns as MP as charter court rules iTV not media since 2007

The Office of the Constitutional Court announced that the majority of judges had dismissed the request of the Election Commission to disqualify Pita as an MP under Article 101 of the Constitution for holding shares in a media firm. Eight of the nine judges voted in favour of Pita. Only one judge, Nakarin Mektrairat, voted against Pita.

The EC alleged that Pita applied to run in the May 14 general election although he held shares in iTV, a media firm, which is prohibited under the charter.

The court ruled that although iTV had been a media firm under a contract with the secretariat of the PM’s Office since 1995, the secretariat had cancelled the contract on March 7, 2007.

The judges said that iTV had also informed the Social Security Office on March 8, 2007 that it no longer had staff because its operations were suspended following the cancellation of the contract.

The court said iTV had not been in the media business since then and its subsidiaries had also ceased operations. Also, its financial statements showed that its media revenue was zero and other revenue came from interest.

The court further explained that although iTV was set up with a business goal of serving as a media firm, its financial statement from 2017 to 2022 clearly showed that it had ceased media operations since the cancellation of the contract by the secretariat.

The court added that after the contract was cancelled, the broadcast frequency was returned to the PM’s Office and iTV could no longer operate as a TV station.

The court noted that the cancellation and revocation of the frequency allocation prompted iTV to sue the secretariat and the lawsuit is pending in the civil court.

The court said even if iTV wins the lawsuit, it will not be given back the broadcast frequency and it cannot operate as a TV station again so the court ruled that iTV had no right to function as a media firm since March 7, 2017.

The court said iTV had maintained its legal status only for handling the lawsuit and for receiving revenue from stock investments and for receiving interest, not for media operations.

The court said when Pita filed his nomination for contesting the general election, iTV did not have any media operation so Pita’s holding shares in iTV could not be grounds to bar him from being an MP candidate. Therefore Pita’s MP status would not be terminated as requested by the EC, the judges concluded

Meanwhile, Constitutional Court president Worawit Kangsasitiam said the court had not dragged its feet in the case and the ruling should have been made 60 days earlier.

However, both the EC and Pita sought an extension of the hearing time by 30 days each for presenting their side of information.