The government appointed MP Pareena Kraikupt to the parliament’s anti-corruption committee on Thursday, a move that has been met with criticism by the opposition.
Pareena is currently under investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for alleged encroachment and illegal building on national park land.
The NACC will present its findings on Pareena’s case in April.
The appointment of the Palang Pracharath MP to the parliament’s anti-corruption committee, a separate body to the NACC, was met with hostility from both the opposition and individuals on social media.
Many questioned how someone, who is herself under investigation for corruption, could have the moral compass necessary to carry out work in the committee.
Others say it was a well thought through plan by the government to cause chaos within the committee and draw attention away from its own misdeeds.
“The appointment of Pareena to the anti-corruption committee is a deliberate attempt to sow chaos into corruption investigations of the government,” said former Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan on Twitter.
Pareena is known for her fiery rhetoric and has been described as a nuisance by opposition MPs for her relentless badgering and questioning of procedure in deliberate attempts to stall parliamentary proceedings.
The MP has also come under pressure in the last month after her father was involved in a hit-and-run incident where his Mercedes hit a motorbike and then fled the scene.