Thailand's Constitutional Court (CC) on Monday voted unanimously in favor of the junta-installed Assets Examination Committee (AEC), saying that the agency' establishment and extension of its term was legitimate as its tenure ended Monday.
The 11-member AEC was set up by the junta on Sept. 19, 2006 to investigate corruption allegations against former Prime Minister Thaksin and his cabinet members.
A legal team working for the ousted premier had earlier petitioned the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, questioning the legitimacy of the AEC's authority in many graft cases filed against the ex-premier, and also accusing a junta decision to extend its term of violating the constitution.
The AEC's one-year tenure was extended by the junta for another nine months when the 2007 Constitution was put in place, to officially end on Monday. It claimed its has completed probes of 14 cases out of 24 in hand, and submitted four cases to the court against the Thaksin administration.
In response, the Supreme Court division decided to seek the Constitutional Court's rule on the status of the AEC. Nine judges were appointed to consider the case and held the first session of the panel.
Constitution Court Secretary-General Paiboon Warahapaitoon was quoted by Thai News Agency as saying that the nine judges voted unanimously to determine that probes conducted by AEC did not violate the 2007 Constitution, promulgated by the junta.
The AEC members had performed under orders issued by the now-defunct Council for National Security (CNS), which staged the coup to oust the Thaksin government and was empowered to issue orders aimed at installing peace in Thailand, Paiboon explained.
The appointment of the AEC and its actions taken before or after the 2006 interim constitution would be considered legal, he said.
Constitution Court judges also ruled unanimously that the extension of the term of the AEC until June 30, this year did not violate the constitution because no additional authority was given to AEC members.
Source: Xinhua
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