Thai court rules decree for $14.3 bln flood plan legal

BANGKOK - Thailand's constitutional court on Wednesday ruled in favour of a decree that set up a 350 billion baht (S$14.3 billion) flood prevention fund and said prior parliamentary approval was not required because it was an urgent matter.

The executive decree was to fund infrastructure and defences to prevent a repeat of last year's devastating floods, Thailand's worst in 50 years, and win back the confidence of foreign investors whose factories were inundated.

"This fund is a way of ensuring economic stability after the floods," a judge said in reading the verdict, reached by unanimous decision.

"There were 841 factories affected. These were key to Thai industry, including the auto parts and computer chips industries."

The opposition had petitioned the court to look into the legality of bypassing the legislature to issue the decree, one of a package of four. Normally such decrees are only used for emergency actions.