On the other hand, a precedent was established by the Court that it would accept all petitions under Article 219 to preserve Parliament's right to question the constitutionality of emergency executive decrees. After the sounding victory of Thaksin Shinawatra's party, Thai Rak Thai, in 2001 election, the Anti-Corruption Committee filed a case charging him as hiding a handful of assets in form of stocks, which is unlawful due to the 1997 Constitution. According to Thai law, senior government officials are required to declare their assets, along with those of their spouses and children under the age of 20, to the NCCC when they start and finish their terms in office. However Thaksin could escape the guilty as the judges ruled 8 to 7. Thaksin said it was his 'honest mistake'. The NAP later filed impeachment proceedings with the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) against Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and the Minister of Finance Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda for violation of the Constitution. The NAP argued that the letter of intent that the government signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure emergency financial support was a treaty, and that Article 224 of the Constitution stipulated that the government must receive prior consent from Parliament to enter a treaty. The NCCC determined the issue concerned a constitutional interpretation and petitioned the Constitutional Court for an opinion. The Court ruled the IMF letters were not treaties, as internationally defined, because they were unilateral documents from the Thai government with no rules for enforcement or provisions for penalty. Moreover, the IMF itself had worded the letters in a way that stated that the letters were not contractual agreements. On 24 June 2003, a petition was filed with the Constitutional Court seeking its ruling on the constitutionality of Jaruvan Maintaka's appointment by the Senate as Auditor-General. Jaruvan was one of three nominees for the position of auditor-general in 2001, along with Prathan Dabpet and Nontaphon Nimsomboon. Prathan received 5 votes from the 8-person State Audit Commission (SAC) chairman while Jaruvan received 3 votes. According to the constitution, State Audit Commission chairman Panya Tantiyavarong should have submitted Prathan's nomination to the Senate, as he received the majority of votes. However, on July 3, 2001, the SAC Chairman submitted a list of all three candidates for the post of auditor-general to the Senate, which later voted to select Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka.