Actor and volunteer rescue worker Bin Bunluerit has announced he will wind down the public donation campaign he launched to help flood victims at the end of the month.
His announcement on Wednesday came after he admitted the donations had been abused by village leaders in some northeastern provinces whom he entrusted with drawing up lists of donation recipients.
Bin said he had collected 408 million baht in public donations as of Wednesday. The amount includes about 1.7 million baht in cash which was handed to him in person. The rest was wired to a Kasikornbank account.
He said he made six withdrawals from the account totalling 46 million baht, 41 million baht of which has been distributed to 7,893 flood victim households, each receiving 5,000 baht.
He and his rescue teams planned to hand out assistance money to 800 households on Wednesday. Bin said he will halt the donation campaign on Sept 30.
The opposition, meanwhile, has criticised the government's economic stimulus programme, saying it should be using the money to assist flood victims.
Jiraporn Sinthuprai, a Pheu Thai MP for Roi Et, one of the northeastern provinces battered by the floods, said she found it irrational that the government was forking out a budget to finance the so-called chim, shop, chai (Taste, Shop, Spend) stimulus scheme when there was a more pressing need for the money elsewhere.
Under the scheme which kicked off on Monday, up to 10 million people must register online to qualify to receive 1,000 baht each for spending at designated shops and commercial outlets. Payment can be made with the shops through an app.
Online registration is done on a first-come, first-served basis of up to a million people a day. In the first three days of registration, which is open until Nov 15, three million people registered.
Ms Jiraporn said the money from the scheme may not trickle down to the grassroots economy, which is in dire need of a boost.
She said the budget should be diverted to assist with the repairs of damaged homes, which would do more to invigorate the local economy.