Former politician turned whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit handed over a problematic 6-million-baht cash donation to the police on Friday after a high-profile lawyer claimed the money had come shady sources.
In handing over the money to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), Mr Chivit suggested that it investigate the claims made by lawyer Sittra Biabangkerd. Pol Maj Gen Montri Thetkhan, the CSD commander, accepted the donation.
The former massage parlour tycoon and politician had accepted the 6 million baht from an associate of a police inspector who is being investigated in connection with illegal online gambling. He subsequently donated all the money to Siriraj Hospital and Thammasat University Hospital.
However, both public hospitals decided to return the donations to Mr Chuvit after it was claimed by Mr Sittra that they came from a shady source.
Before he met with CSD officers, Mr Chuvit showed reporters the documents related to the donations he made to the hospitals, and the cheques they issued when they gave the money back to him.
He said he had obtained the money legally and donating it was a straightforward process, adding that he never sought a tax deduction as some people had claimed.
Acknowledging the time gap between receiving the money and making the donation, he said that since the hospitals do not accept cash from walk-ins, he needed to make appointments with them.
At the same media event, he fended off questions about his continuing campaign against the Chidchob family and the Bhumjaithai Party. He has questioned how the powerful Buri Ram family had managed to hang on to the land in the Khao Kradong area where their showcase race track and football stadium are located.
Some critics have said that Mr Chuvit has questions of his own to answer about his land plots but he said the two issues are not related.
He also claimed that he had met with the former media tycoon, Sondhi Limthongkul, and Tanthai Narongkul, CEO of Titan Capital Group, with the help of a high-ranking police officer with the Thai initial “Chor”, to discuss an online gambling business that Mr Tanthai owned.
He then turned his fire on Mr Sittra again, raising questions about a 300,000-baht “risk factor expense” for which the lawyer had reportedly billed a client when he went public with his revelations about the cash donations to Mr Chuvit.