Sarawut Songsivilai: Scandal-hit Senate greenlights transport guru for Constitutional Court

Sarawut Songsivilai, former Department of Highways chief, has won Senate backing for appointment as a new Constitutional Court judge, even as 138 senators are themselves facing allegations of election-rigging.

The Upper House voted 143:17 on Tuesday (July 22) to approve Sarawut’s nomination, while rejecting fellow contender, former Mahidol University lecturer Prof Sutham Cheurprakobkit, by 39:118.

Sarawut will assume office upon royal endorsement.

Sarawut and Sutham had been nominated by an eight-member selection committee to fill two vacancies left after Constitutional Court president Nakharin Mektrairat and justice Punya Udchachon completed their terms.

Senate vote-rigging claims

Sutham’s bid failed after he served as adviser to Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong, who targeted a group of senators linked to the Bhumjaithai Party over suspected vote-rigging in the Senate election.

The targeted senators asked the charter court to remove Tawee from office, accusing him of deploying the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) – which falls under his jurisdiction – to interfere with the Election Commission’s vote-rigging probe.

The court responded in May by removing the DSI from Tawee’s control.

Last year’s senatorial election saw more than 40,000 candidates vote among themselves at district, provincial and national levels to arrive at 200 final winners. However, the voting was marred by allegations of fraud and manipulation.

Last week, a joint EC-DSI investigation panel recommended that 229 people – 138 sitting senators and 91 others, including Bhumjaithai Party executives – be charged with electoral fraud. The EC is now considering whether to proceed with charges.

Bumpy road to charter court

The fraud investigation cast a shadow over Senate deliberations ahead of the vote to endorse the two Constitutional Court nominees.

Senator Nantana Nantavaropas called for the vote be postponed pending the investigation into alleged election-rigging involving over half of the Senate, but her proposal was shouted down by colleagues.

Sarawut earned the Senate’s nod after being nominated in three rounds of voting by the eight-member selection panel.

He turns 61 in September, following nearly four decades as a career civil servant at the Transport Ministry, where he served as director-general of the Department of Highways from 2019 until his retirement in 2024.

For much of that period, his boss was Saksayam Chidchob, Bhumjaithai’s former secretary-general, who served as transport minister from July 2019 to March 2023.

Saksayam was ousted in January 2024 for violating the law by failing to declare his shares in Burijarearn Construction Ltd and running the company through a proxy. During his tenure as transport minister, Burijarearn Construction reportedly secured 52 contracts with the Department of Highways worth a total 1.2 billion baht.

38 years in public service

Born on September 15, 1964, Sarawut holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master’s in transport engineering from Chulalongkorn University.

He began his career in 1986, at age 22, as a junior civil engineer at the Transport Ministry and steadily rose through the ranks over the next 38 years.

In 1997 he became head of the Road Maintenance Office for the Northeast; in 2006 he was appointed director of the Bangkok Highway District; and in 2009 he became chief of Highway District 8 in Nakhon Ratchasima.

From 2013 to 2017 Sarawut served as deputy director-general of the Department of Highways, before being appointed chief of the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning in 2018.

In 2019 he was promoted to head the Department of Rail Transport, quickly moving on to the Department of Highways – which he led until his retirement last year.

During his time at the Transport Ministry, Sarawut also served as chair of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority, as executive director of the Expressway Authority of Thailand and as vice chair of the Airports of Thailand Plc.

Upon retirement, Sarawut declared assets worth 12.6 million baht to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. These included bank deposits worth 2.9 million baht, 2 million baht in investments, land valued 750,000 baht, and valuables worth 2.4 million baht.