By Thai Newsroom Reporters
ONLINE TRADER-TURNED-MP Pawoot Pongvitayapanu was found to have evidently used payment transfer services of an illegally operating firm allegedly associated with those suspected of involvement in a foreign exchange scam.
Pawoot who has been informally suspected by the Department of Special Investigation among dozens of others in the forex scam and scheduled to be interrogated by the investigative agency tomorrow (July 2) had allegedly used the service of the unnamed payment firm whose operating licence had been allegedly forged to be falsely signed by former finance minister Uttama Saovanayon in 2024 despite the fact that former prime minister Srettha Thavisin was then concurrently acting as finance minister.
Remarkably, the money transferred online to Pawoot was allegedly found to amount much more than 28 million baht – the sum of which the People’s lawmaker had earlier claimed to be worth the accumulated profit which he had previously earned from trading gold online two years ago and not from the suspected forex scam.
The People’s MP has been initially suspected by the DSI of involvement in the illegal forex business in alleged connection with a few other firms, namely QRS Global and Spark Digital.
A video clip showing Pawoot supposedly promoting QRS Global forex services had gone viral but the People’s MP had categorically dismissed allegations that he was advertising the forex firm and that he was merely giving an interview about his knowledge and experience as an online trader.
The People’s MP had earlier claimed to have received 14 transferred payments worth two million baht each, thus totaling 28 million baht supposedly due to the profit from his online gold trading but the Bhumjaithai-attached Justice Minister Rutthapol Naowarat had earlier remarked that the transferred amount of money should have had decimal points and not such a flat sum.
In addition, the total of the money may have been transferred online to Pawoot in a single day and not over a period of time as earlier claimed by the opposition lawmaker.
However, Pawoot reassured that he will definitely not resign as elected lawmaker and that he will most certainly fight a legal battle in the face of any criminal charges which the DSI, a government agency under care of the justice minister, may press against him without taking legal privileges which may otherwise grant him immunity to arrest and detention during the current legislative session.
Pawoot was among a few People’s MPs considerably critical of the contentious TH-AI Passport project pushed by de facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob’s son/Digital Economy & Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob.
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Top and Front Page: People’s MP Pawoot Pongvitayapanu. Photos – Facebook
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