THAILAND'S main opposition party may be banned following the Election Commission’s findings that the party had accepted cash or donations from an illegal source.
The EC has asked the Constitutional Court to disband the Future Forward Party on the grounds that its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit had lent the party 191 million baht (RM26.2 million) in January this year.
If the court agrees with the EC, the party’s 15 officials - including Thanathorn, secretary general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and spokesperson Pannika Wanich - will be banned from politics.
The Bangkok Post reported that they would also not be allowed to register or set up, be executives of or take part in founding a party for 10 years.
The same Constitutional Court had previously ruled that Thanathorn broke the law by holding shares in a media firm when he registered to run in March elections and stripped him of his position as an MP.
Thanathorn had said the charges against him were politically motivated as he insisted that he sold his shares in the company to his mother before he registered as a candidate but the court said there was no evidence proving this.
However if the FFP is disbanded, the party’s 80 MPs could still join other parties.
The court could also suspend the party’s operations while considering whether to dissolve it entirely.
The EC said that it found the party had violated the Political Party Act, which prohibits political parties and its executives from accepting cash, assets or other benefits when they know or should know they come from an illegitimate source.
In May, Thanathorn told a Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand forum that he had lent almost 200 million baht (RM27.5 million) to the party.
He also declared the loan in his asset declaration by naming the party as one of his debtors.
The revelation drew scrutiny and activist Srisuwan Janya filed a petition with the EC in the same month to probe whether the loan violated the political parties law.
The Act reads: “No one may donate cash, assets or other benefits worth more than 10 million baht to a political party.”
Thanathorn had also listed FFP as his debtor for the amount of 191.2 million baht (RM26.3 million) in two loan contracts made at the party’s head office and signed by Thanathorn and Nitipat Tampairoj, party financier, acting on behalf of the party’s leader as the borrower.
Under the first 191.2 million baht (RM26.3 million) contract made on Jan 2, the FFP has to repay the loan over a three year period in instalments of 80 million, 40 million and 41.2 million baht. The interest rate was set at 7.5 per cent per annum.
The other contract was made on April 11 for a credit line of 30 million baht (RM4.1 million). The FFP received 2.7 million baht (RM371,500) on the contract signing date, with the rest to be provided subsequently.
The FFP was to repay it in one year at an interest rate of 2% per annum.