Thai Airways International Public Company Limited announced that it named Sorajak Kasemsuvan as the airline's new president, replacing Piyasvasti Amranand who was sacked in June. The company reported that Mr. Sorajak was expected to take up his new position in October. The process is expected to take about two weeks. Mr. Sorajak's performance will be assessed every six months while he is in office. Mr. Sorajak has been the chairman of the majority state-owned broadcaster MCOT Plc since December in 2011. The holder of a PhD in international law from the London School of Economics, Mr. Sorajak once worked as a translator and reporter for the BBC's Thai-language service. He was succeeded by Mingkwan Saengsuwan, who led the semi-privatisation and market listing of MCOT and later became a prominent figure in the Thai Rak Thai Party under Thaksin Shinawatra, Mr. Sorajak also held advisory posts in the Thaksin administration, as a vice-minister of foreign affairs and later as a vice-minister in the Prime Minister's Office. He has also held directorships at Seamico Securities, M Pictures Entertainment, and is an independent director of Electricity Generating Plc. The company also announced that Mr. Piyasvasti, whose wife Anik is a board member and party-list MP of the opposition Democrat Party, was axed as Thai Airways' president and CEO in June and stated that he believed that his removal was politically motivated. He later filed a lawsuit, demanding that Thai Airways to renew his employment contract until the expiry date and to pay him compensation for the entire employment period remaining in the contract, which expires on July 11, 2012.