Thaksin's niece banned from Thai politics

BANGKOK, April 20 (TNA) - Bangkok's Supreme Court ruled on Friday to disqualify Chinnicha Wongsawat of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, who is a daughter of former Thai prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and a niece of exiled-ex Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, from being an MP and to ban her from Thai politics for five years for her false asset declaration four years ago. The Supreme Court reasoned that 31-year-old Chinnicha was found guilty of concealing her 100-million-baht debt. The highest court also sentenced Chinnicha to two-month imprisonment and a fine of 4,000 baht, but the jail term has been suspended for one year, as she has never faced any imprisonment verdict. The sentence came from a panel of nine judges of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions in response to a complaint from Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) against Chinnicha, who has now become a former Pheu Thai MP for Thailand's northern Chiang Mai Province subsequently. Chinnicha declared on October 31, 2008, eight months after she had assumed her MP position, that she had borrowed 100 million baht from Bannapot Damapong, an elder brother of Khunying Potjaman Na Pombejra, Thaksin's ex-wife, claiming that she had not declared it right away because she understood that she could not do anything with the debt that Thailand's military-appointed Asset Scrutiny Committee had earlier seized for examination. The Supreme Court ruled that Chinnicha deliberately made the false declaration of her assets and liabilities, which is against the 2010 Constitution and the Corruption Prevention and Suppression Act and ban her from political involvement for five years. (TNA)