Former Bangkok MP Sira Jenjaka has been sentenced to a year in prison for contesting the 2019 general election despite knowing he was not qualified to do so.
The Criminal Court on Monday found him guilty of standing in the election with the full knowledge that he was ineligible on account of having been convicted of fraud by the Pathumwan District Court in 1995 and sentenced to eight months in jail.
The jail sentence disqualified him from competing in elections, as determined by the Constitutional Court.
According to prosecutors, Sira registered his candidacy to run in Bangkok's Constituency 9 on Feb 4, 2019, about five weeks before the election.
He was fully aware he was ineligible to run as a Palang Pracharath Party candidate at the time of registration, the court was told.
On Dec 17, 2020, former national police chief Pol Gen Sereepisuth Temeeyaves, the leader of the Seriruamthai Party, petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking a ruling on Sira's MP status, citing his 1995 fraud conviction as grounds for removing him.
The Constitutional Court later ruled that Sira broke the election law.
The Election Commission subsequently took legal action against him in the Criminal Court.
This court on Monday ordered Sira to be jailed for one year and his right to run in elections to be invalidated for 20 years. Sira's lawyer applied for his release on bail Monday afternoon.
