Move Forward Party claims discrepancies detected in Thai PM-elect's media share controversy
BANGKOK: Thailand’s election winner Move Forward Party raised questions about possible attempts to sabotage its leader and prime minister-elect Pita Limjaroenrat in his race for the premiership, following a news report on Sunday (Jun 11) that revealed discrepancies in documents used against his candidature.
The 42-year-old politician is caught in a controversy involving 42,000 shares in media firm ITV, which he claimed to manage on behalf of his family’s inheritance fund.
Mr Pita was accused of violating the constitution, which prohibits individuals from running in an election of Members of the House of Representatives if they are shareholders of any newspaper or mass media business.
On Monday, Move Forward Party secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon pointed out irregularities in documents used in allegations against Mr Pita, including the minutes of the annual general meeting of ITV shareholders on Apr 26.
This came after a news programme called 3 Miti News by local network Channel 3 broadcast parts of the meeting on Sunday night, revealing what was recorded on camera that day was different from the written records.
In the video clip, shareholder Panuwat Kwanyuen asked chairman of ITV’s board of directors Kim Siritaweechai whether the company has any operation related to media or television.
Mr Kim – who presided over the meeting – replied: “At present, the company does not have any operation while waiting for the legal case to conclude first.”
However, his answer was quoted differently in the minutes.
“It was recorded in the minutes that Mr Kim replied to Mr Panuwat that ‘at present, the company still operates according to its objectives and has been submitting financial statements as well as filing corporate income tax return forms as usual’,” Mr Chaithawat said.
“Is such behaviour regarded as falsifying the minutes of the shareholders’ meeting and a violation to various laws or not?” he questioned.
DISCREPANCIES IN ITV’S FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOUND: MFP SEC-GEN
ITV officially began broadcasting in 1996. It lost the right to use the frequency for broadcasting in 2007 after the Office of the Prime Minister revoked its concession agreement.
Currently, the company and the Office of the Prime Minister are involved in an ongoing legal dispute.
The status of ITV is significant for Pita’s candidature and the forming of the next government.
According to Mr Chaithawat, more discrepancies were also detected in ITV’s financial statement, which was submitted to the Department of Business Development on May 10 shortly before the election.
In the statement, ITV’s business was categorised as “television”, with product and service being “advertising media and investment yields”.
Mr Chaithawat said ITV’s product and service were previously defined as “not operational due to a pending legal case”.
“The change in information in ITV’s latest financial statement submission form contradicts the answer of Mr Kim Siritaweechai, who presided over the shareholders’ meeting on Apr 26, 2023, to another question,” he claimed.
Based on the clip broadcast by 3 Miti News, Mr Kim said as long as the legal case continues, it would be very difficult to do anything with ITV at present.
Following reports of the discrepancies, ITV’s major shareholder Intouch Holdings released a statement to inform the Stock Exchange of Thailand that it will investigate the matter.
The Move Forward Party won an unexpected victory in the country’s general election on May 14 with 151 seats in parliament.
It has formed a coalition with seven political allies, including Pheu Thai, Prachachat, Thai Liberal Party, Thai Sang Thai, Fair, Plung Sungkom Mai and Pue Thai Rumphlang.
Together, they have 312 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives.
For Mr Pita to become prime minister, however, his party needs the approval from more than half of the 750-seat National Assembly, or at least 376 votes in either the House of Representatives alone or the Senate too.
If he is found to have violated the constitution due to the ITV shares, his race for the premiership could be affected.
Last month, the prime minister-elect said he was not worried about the ITV case because the shares belong to his family’s inheritance fund.
However, he later said he decided to transfer the shares to other heirs after “many irregularities that had occurred”, claiming there have been attempts to “revive ITV” into a mass media company in order to use it against him.
“I am confident that before I transferred the ITV shares, ITV did not operate any mass media business,” he said in a Facebook post on Jun 6.
“I am confident of the facts in the past but as for the facts that will happen from now on, I cannot predict whether ITV will be revived into a mass media (company). That is why the transfer of shares took place. I did not transfer the shares to avoid any wrongdoing.”
