By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER Anutin Charnvirakul today (Nov.13) reiterated his unfaltering directive that the authorities indiscriminately take action against any wrongdoing suspects regardless of how highly-placed in government they could possibly be, including a particular case currently handled by the Department of Special Investigation involving Bhumjaithai MP Suchada Zhang Tansap and her suspected money-laundering spouse Taiyang Zhang.
The prime minister-cum-interior minister who concurrently acts as leader of the Bhumjaithai, currently core of the coalition government, confirmed the DSI has been legally obliged to investigate the alleged involvement of Suchada’s spouse in an online casino, namely Shuffle, and the alleged money-laundering activity on his part without considering whom the suspect may be related to others in government or the largest ruling party.
“Don’t look at the names. Just look at the behaviour, that’s all it takes to get things done,” Anutin told reporters citing his much-repeated phrase in regard to the authorities’ legal action against any suspects who may be more or less highly-placed or connected with persons in the legislative or executive branch.
Anutin said the DSI need not report him on a daily basis of progress in their ongoing probe into the Zhang family’s alleged crime, however.
The prime minister apparently made his comments amidst speculation that the DSI, directly responsive to the Bhumjaithai-attached Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat, would likely call the case closed without taking legal action against the first-time MP of Chaiyapum or her spouse, an Australian national of Chinese descent.
Nevertheless, he declined to comment whether the allegations launched against the Zhang family might probably intensify to the extent they involve Digital Economy & Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob to whom Suchada had worked as secretary last year. Chaichanok, son of de facto Bhumjaithai boss Newin Chidchob, concurrently acts as secretary-general of the largest ruling party.
The Zhang family has been invariably accused of managing to conceal some of their shared assets, given Taiyang’s alleged online casino interest and relevant money-laundering activity after the couple had earlier formally declared some 1.9 billion baht in wealth to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Meanwhile, former Democrat MP Sirichok Sopa who originally raised the allegations of Taiyang having hiddenly owned a paltry share in Shuffle, the Curacao-registered online casino which would definitely have been otherwise illegal in Thailand, said he would look for another channel to bring the serial entrepreneur-turned-money-laundering suspect to justice in this country.
For instance, Sirichok said, the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, directly subject to the National Police headquarters, might probably be petitioned to handle the unresolved case if the DSI eventually lifted it.
CAPTION:
This and Front Page: Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul with an image of Bhumjaithai MP Suchada Zhang Tansap and her spouse Taiyang Zhang inset. Credit – Naewna
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