Gadfly Ruangkrai is still focused on Pita’s assets, discovers ‘discrepancy’
Gadfly Ruangkrai Leekitwattana on Sunday sent another letter to the Election Commission (EC), this time pointing to what he called a discrepancy in Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s assets filing.
As part of what is becoming an apparent relentless effort to have Pita disqualified as an MP and prime minister candidate, Ruangkrai said his latest letter to the EC targets what he describes as a discrepancy in Pita’s assets declaration to the National Anti-Corruption Commission when he became an MP following the 2019 general election.
Ruangkrai noted that in Pita’s initial financial statement submitted to the corruption watchdog on May 25, 2019, he listed two plots of land.
One was a 14-rai plot in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Pranburi district worth 18 million baht and held under his supervision as the executor of his late father’s estate.
Ruangkrai then said that when Pita submitted an additional statement that he held 42,000 shares in ITV Plc it failed to mention that Pita was holding the shares as an executor of his late father’s estate.
On Friday, however, National Anti-Corruption Commission secretary-general Niwatchai Kasemmongkol said Pita did submit an additional asset declaration about the 42,000 ITV shares in which he described himself as the legal executor of them, and had attached a court order appointing him as the executor.
The court order was issued in March 2007, Niwatchai said.
Last month, Ruangkrai filed a complaint with the EC asking it to disqualify Pitas as an election candidate on the suspicion that he held shares in a media firm, which is prohibited by the Constitution.
The EC responded by saying it had already endorsed Pita’s qualifications as a candidate and dismissed the complaint. However, it ordered an inquiry into whether Pita violated the election law by contesting the election despite knowing he was not qualified due to his holding of media shares.
ITV Plc owns iTV, a TV station that stopped broadcasting in 2007. The company delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 2014 but remains a legal entity.
Ruangkrai said his letter asks the EC to obtain documents from the anti-graft commission to compare how Pita described the land plot he held as executor of his father’s estate with how he described the ITV shares.
Pita has insisted that ITV is no longer operating as a media firm and that he was holding the shares as executor of his father's estate.
As a result, he did not violate the Constitution by running as an MP.
He said he had transferred all the shares to other heirs after the issue was being used as a political tool against him.
Earlier, he said he was warned by some sources that the ITV shareholding would be used as a political tool against him.
Pita and Move Forward have pledged to target monopolistic businesses in Thailand, especially those in the energy sector.
On Friday, Move Forward MP-elect Wiroj Lakana-adisorn said on Twitter that ITV had explained to its shareholders that its president did not say it was still a media firm as notes for a shareholders’ meeting suggested.
Wiroj said the clarification from ITV indicated that whoever orchestrated the media-share controversy would let his or her henchmen suffer the consequences alone and would cut all links to them.
“This may be a signal to cast away the raft of the henchmen to save the mastermind. From now on, everyone is on their own and don’t link it to the boss,” Wiroj wrote on Twitter.
ITV’s majority shareholder is Intouch Holdings Plc, whose majority shareholder is Gulf Energy Development Plc.
Last week, Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul denied that his party was behind the alleged plot to prevent Pita from becoming prime minister.
Anutin admitted he is a close friend of Sarath Ratanavadi, the CEO of Gulf Energy Development, but said his friendship with Sarath had nothing to do with the controversy.
