BANGKOK, Sept 26 – Thailand’s Opposition Democrat Party said Monday it will petition the Office of the Ombudsman to press Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on conflict of interest charges regarding her government’s policy of tax refunds for first-time home buyers.
MP Wirat Kalayasiri, as chief of the party’s legal team, revealed the Democrat’s latest move after the Pheu Thai-led government implemented its policy to refund tax to first-time homebuyers for homes costing less than Bt5 million.
The government earlier promised to implement the policy on purchases of homes costing less than three million baht but the price was raised to five million to draw more buyers and boost the country’s real estate sector.
Those eligible to receive the tax privilege will get a tax refund of a maximum ten per cent of the house price and the tax rebate must not be over Bt500,000.
Mr Wirat said the real estate company SC Asset Corporation Plc, once owned by the prime minister, has hugely benefited from such a policy, triggering concerns of possible conflict of interest.
Although Ms Yingluck has resigned as the company’s chief executive officer, Mr Wirat said, the firm selected Busaba Damapong, wife of Bhanapot Damapong, to replace her.
The Democrat MP elaborated that Mr Bhanapot is the stepbrother of Pojaman Na Pombejra, former wife of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and that he is also a defendant with his sister on alleged tax evasion over the sale of stocks.
Mr Bhanapot was found guilty of the charge, and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is also probing the case of Ample Rich share concealment scandal in which his wife has been charged, according to Mr Virat.
“As I looked through the SC Asset share structure,” Mr Wirat stated, “Mr Thaksin’s two daughters hold 200 million shares each, Mr Bhanapot 31.8 million, and Ms Pojaman 18.5 million.”
The Democrat MP said that SC Asset remains a Shinawatra family business no matter how the share structure is changed.
“So the conflict of interest is connected to the violation of the Constitution, Article 279-280,” said Mr Wirat. “It’s about the ethics of political officeholders.”
Mr Wirat said the Office of Ombudsman can proceed with its investigation without a plaintiff and can forward the case to the Office of National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) if any wrongdoing is found so that the agency could launch an impeachment process.
The Democrat legal team agreed that the case involves conflict of interest and that some in the private sectors have gained several billion baht from the policy, reaffirmed Mr Wirat.
“The party’s legal team will collect more evidence and submit it to the Office of Ombudsman to investigate the matter,” the opposition MP asserted.
