Thailand’s Constitutional Court yesterday ordered Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsap to quit after he failed to declare assets held by his wife, the latest blow to the five-month old government.
“The court has ruled that the ministerial term of Mr. Chaiya Sasomsap has ended in accordance with the Constitution,” said a judge who read out the verdict in court.
The National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) concluded in April that Chaiya had violated last year’s army-designed Constitution by failing to disclose his wife’s assets 30 days after he was sworn in as minister.
The NCCC’s finding was forwarded to the court for a ruling.
The court ruling came one day after the opposition Democrat Party and several senators said they would start to collect signatures for an impeachment action against the Cabinet after a Thai court said the government’s support for a Cambodian bid to list a 900-year-old temple as a World Heritage site was illegal.
However, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej shrugged off doubts about the stability of his five-month-old government yesterday.
“I am listening to all the criticism and will tell the people what I think on my Sunday TV show,” Samak told reporters, referring to his weekly television program.
His six-party coalition government has been weakened by a prolonged street campaign that has unsettled investors and several court rulings against his ministers.
On Tuesday, a top leader of Samak’s People Power Party (PPP) was found guilty of vote buying in the December poll and banned from politics for five years, a ruling that could lead to the dissolution of the main coalition party.
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