Move Forward cries foul over tactics used to discredit its candidate in Rayong by-election
The Move Forward Party protested loudly over what it calls is a smear campaign against Rayong's by-election candidate.
The party claimed on Tuesday that the opposite has been portraying the candidate as a tax evader who has a criminal record.
Rangsiman Rome, spokesman and Move Forward party-list MP, called a press conference at which Pongsathorn Sornphetnarin, Move Forward’s candidate for Rayong’s Constituency 3, was also present.
Move Forward entered Pongsathorn in the by-election to try to retain the seat vacated by Nakhonchai Khunnarong, who resigned in early August due to a past conviction and jail term.
The by-election is scheduled to be held on September 10.
Earlier, several posts on social media said that Pongsathorn had not paid his taxes over the past few years.
A Thai-language newspaper also reported that Pongsathorn had earned a lot from selling beer and lived a luxurious lifestyle but had failed to pay taxes.
Rangsiman said the paper was exaggerating and may have been used by Move Forward’s rivals to discredit the candidate.
Apart from Pongsathorn, candidates from the Democrat Party and the Thai Labour Party are also running the race.
Rangsiman said Pongsathorn had not filed his taxes because, since 2019, he has been working as an aide for Move Forward party-list MP Benja Saengchan.
He said Pongsathorn’s monthly salary for this job was 15,000 baht, so his yearly earnings were not higher than 180,000 baht, which is the ceiling for tax exemption.
Rangsiman said after Pongsathorn applied to contest for the seat, he formally informed the Revenue Department of his income.
As for the paper’s claim that Pongsathorn owned a villa with a pool, Rangsiman said one photo cannot prove a luxurious lifestyle.
He said Pongsathorn holds shares in his friend’s beer business, but it had not started making profits and he has not yet received anything from it.
The spokesman said Pongsathorn had been accused of embezzling the assets of others in 2018, but investigators eventually threw out the case.
Rangsiman said Move Forward was open to all scrutiny by the media, but the way this paper handled the allegations makes it look like the aim was to discredit the candidate.
“Someone wanted to use this [incomplete] information for political gains by discrediting our candidate,” he said.
When asked if he can make ends meet with just 15,000 baht a month, Pongsathorn said he once earned a lot but began leading a modest lifestyle after entering politics, so this amount is enough.
