A reserve senator has petitioned the attorney-general to expedite the investigation into alleged collusion in the 2024 Senate selection.
Thanawat Srisuk said he was asking prosecutors to speed up proceedings in line with earlier instructions to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to gather additional evidence.
Mr Thanawat said he had previously written to the attorney-general on Dec 8, seeking an update on the case. He later learned that prosecutors had returned the case file to the DSI for further inquiries.
A meeting of investigators on Feb 5 this year resolved to proceed with the probe and summon reserve senators who had filed complaints to give statements, he said.
However, more than a month has passed without any apparent progress, he said, noting that he himself has yet to be called in for questioning.
He urged the attorney-general to ensure that prosecutors actively support the investigation and enforce compliance with earlier directives, particularly in expanding the probe to cover all seven groups of alleged offenders identified in complaints about widespread vote-rigging.
The final vote in the three-stage Senate election on June 26, 2024 produced highly unusual results, notably a disproportionate number of winners from provinces where the Bhumjaithai Party is strong electorally.
Election Commission in focus
Mr Thanawat also called for the questioning of individuals linked to the Election Commission who may have been aware of the alleged misconduct, as well as the collection of financial records from relevant agencies, including the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the EC and the Senate Secretariat.
An Election Commission subcommittee on March 13 voted to clear all 229 suspects in the high-profile collusion case, prompting many calls for the commission to disclose its reasoning.
The subcommittee, chaired by Pol Capt Piya Raksakul, a former DSI deputy director-general. Reserve senators had petitioned unsuccessfully for him to be removed after a photograph surfaced showing him fraternising with Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the Bhumjaithai Party leader.
Those named in the complaint the EC was investigating include 138 current senators and 91 others comprising Bhumjaithai Party executives, members and their associates. They are accused in taking part in a large-scale vote-rigging scheme to ensure the election of Bhumjaithai-linked candidates to the 200-member upper house.
The DSI said last month that it was continuing its separate criminal investigations into alleged “secret society” activities and possible money-laundering offences arising from the alleged vote-rigging schemes.
