Thai Court Forces Premier From Office Over TV Cooking Show

BANGKOK — Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was forced from office on Tuesday when a court ruled that he had violated the Constitution by accepting payments to appear on cooking shows while in office.

His party said it would nominate Mr. Samak to succeed himself, an outcome that would seem to defy the spirit of the court ruling and to ensure that Thailand’s political crisis would continue.

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“P.P.P. will propose Samak as prime minister on the grounds that he’s the party leader, and the wrongdoing was petty and not triggered by mismanagement,” said Witthaya Buranasiri, an official of Mr. Samak’s People Power Party.

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The head of the nine-judge Constitutional Court panel, Chat Chonlaworn, read out the unanimous verdict on Tuesday, saying Mr. Samak had violated a constitutional ban on private employment while in office. “His position as prime minister has ended,” he said.

Judge Chat said that Mr. Samak had given conflicting testimony on Monday as to whether he had been paid a salary or expenses and that there had been an attempt to fabricate evidence and “to hide his actions.”

Mr. Samak had defended himself in court, saying he had not been an employee of the television station and had not earned a salary. “I did it because I liked doing it,” he said.

He was paid $2,350 for four shows on a program called “Tasting and Complaining,” according to testimony by the managing director of the company producing the show. Mr. Samak had been host of the show for seven years but gave it up in April, more than two months after being sworn in as prime minister.

Even if he is reinstated, Mr. Samak’s legal troubles will not be over. He faces three charges of corruption that have not yet reached the courts and he is appealing a two-year prison sentence for defamation for accusing Bangkok’s deputy governor of corruption. Conviction in any of these cases could also force him to step down.

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