Senator Questions legality of NBTC Chair Removal Vote
A senator questioned whether the removal of NBTC Chairman Dr. Sorn was legal, arguing the vote lacked proper quorum since only three of seven committee members were original appointees from his initial approval four years ago.
On July 23, 2569, Senator Premsak Piayura issued a statement challenging the legitimacy of removing NBTC Chairman Dr. Sorn Bunyibuchaiprueksa following a complaint filed by Supawich Ayuthya to the Senate committee. The selection committee convened hastily on July 23 and voted 4-0 to remove Dr. Sorn, with committee chair Nivet Panjcharoenkul subsequently requesting an adjournment.
Premsak raised several concerns about the vote's legality. He noted that among the seven committee members, only three were original members from the first vote four years ago when Dr. Sorn was initially approved. The fourth voting member was Withaya Rattanakorn, the new Bank of Thailand governor, who was not present at the original vote. Premsak argued that with only three original members voting, the quorum requirement—requiring more than half of seven members, or at least four—was not met, making the resolution invalid.
Premsak questioned why the selection committee, which had concluded its work four years earlier, was suddenly reconvened with urgency to reverse a previous decision while Dr. Sorn still had two years remaining in his term. He noted the original committee composition had changed materially, with a newcomer replacing a departed official, raising questions about procedural fairness and the committee's actual authority to revisit settled matters. He warned that allowing such a precedent to stand could set a dangerous standard for independent organizations in Thailand.
