Sansiri defends Srettha after Chuwit’s claim of tax evasion by Pheu Thai PM candidate

Srettha was Sansiri’s chief executive officer, president, and chairman of the executive committee before entering politics. He is now one of the three prime ministerial candidates of the Pheu Thai Party, which is leading an effort to form a new coalition government.

Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew said on Wednesday that the party would nominate Srettha at the next parliamentary vote to elect Thailand’s new prime minister.

In its statement released on Thursday, Sansiri dismissed an allegation that Srettha was involved in tax evasion in the real estate company’s property dealings. It said that as the company’s top executive, Srettha had approved the purchase of the land plot in question but had nothing to do with such matters as contract signing, price settlement, and transfer of ownership.

Sansiri’s statement said the sellers of the land plot had agreed to be responsible for the taxes stemming from the land sale.
 

“It is the legal duty of the land sellers to pay excise tax. Sansiri has the duty of making payment at the agreed price and getting the land ownership transferred. Sansiri had no knowledge of or involvement with the land sellers’ tax payment,” the statement said.

Sansiri also maintained that the company had strictly followed the principles of good governance and the rule of law in doing business.

Political whistleblower Chuwit Kamolvisit had earlier claimed that Srettha, and Sansiri under his leadership in 2019, had colluded with the landowners to evade 521 million baht in excise tax on their purchase of a coveted 400-square-wah land plot on Bangkok’s Sarasin Road priced at 4 million baht per square wah. (One square wah equals 4 square metres.)