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Thai court bars Future Forward’s leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from parliament
- The Constitutional Court found Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit guilty of holding shares in a media company after registering his candidacy for election
- The billionaire frontman of the millennial-friendly party denied the charges and said they are politically motivated
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The billionaire frontman of Thailand’s antimilitary bloc was stripped of his MP status on Wednesday over a media shareholding case, a court ruling that could lead to him being banned from politics and jailed for up to 10 years.
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The leader of the millennial-friendly Future Forward party, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 40, shook up the country’s arch-royalist power structure when his party became the third-largest in March elections. But he has battled legal cases since and was suspended from parliament earlier this year after accusations he held shares in a media company when he registered as a candidate.
He denied the charges and said they are politically motivated, but judges at the constitutional court ruled against him on Wednesday, calling his evidence “suspicious”.
“The MP status of Thanathorn has ended,” Judge Worawit Kangsasitiam said.
His removal as an MP means that the Election Commission could bring criminal charges that carry serious penalties – including a political ban and imprisonment.
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