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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai anti-graft panel to charge hundreds of MPs |
| 2014-01-08 |
[Al Ahram] Thailand's anti-graft panel said Tuesday it would press charges against hundreds of politicians, mostly from the party of embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, over a failed attemptCurses! Foiled again! to amend the constitution. The ruling adds to the political uncertainty in the kingdom, where the main opposition party is boycotting February elections called by Yingluck in an unsuccessful attempt to end weeks of mass anti-government protests. The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) -- whose mandate includes investigating possible abuse of power -- cleared 73 politicians including Yingluck of wrongdoing in connection with a bid to make the senate, the legislature's upper house, fully elected. But 308 others from the upper and lower houses were found to have violated the law, based on a preliminary investigation, by drafting or proposing changes to the charter, panel front man Vicha Mahakun told news hounds. If officially found guilty by the commission their cases will be sent to the upper house of parliament, which has the power to ban them from politics for five years. |
| Posted by:Fred |