Ex-MPs get 9 months in prison
The Supreme Court has thrown out appeals by three ex-Bhumjaithai Party MPs and sentenced them to nine months in prison, each without a suspended jail term for proxy voting during the second and third readings of the 2020 budget bill.
The ruling was handed down by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders yesterday.
The court rejected the appeals filed by Chalong Thoetwiraphong, a former Phatthalung Constituency 2 MP; Phumsit Khongmi, a former Phatthalung Constituency 1 MP; and Natee Ratchakitprakarn, a former list MP.
In May last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the three deliberately breached ethics by allowing other MPs to use their electronic voting cards to vote during deliberation of the budget bill between Jan 10-11, 2020, which resulted in the second and third readings of the legislation being ruled illegitimate.
Their action was found to be in breach of Section 172 of the Counter Corruption Act, which punishes violators with a maximum of 10 years in jail, a fine ranging from 20,000 baht to 200,000 baht, or both.
The Supreme Court sentenced them to nine months in jail each and revoked their political rights with immediate effect.
The three then requested bail as they lodged an appeal against the ninemonth jail term, which they argued was too long for people of their advanced age. The court later released them on bail of a million baht each.
The court yesterday rejected the appeal after finding their lengthy jail sentence argument untenable. According to the court, nine months in jail, which was reduced from the one-year prison term originally handed down against them, was the lowest punishment the court could mete out in this case.
The majority of the judges agreed the three had conducted their duties as lawmakers dishonestly, which justified not awarding them a suspended sentence.