A political party is urging the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) to appeal last year's ruling in a money-laundering case linked with the Krungthai Bank (KTB) loan scandal, in which Panthongtae Shinawatra, son of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was acquitted.
Chaturon Bunbencharat, spokesman for New Palangdharma Party, on Mondaysubmitted a petition calling for the OAG to appeal against the Nov 25, 2019 ruling by the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct.
The OAG had previously decided not to pursue the matter despite the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) insisting on a request for the OAG to appeal the ruling, said Mr Chaturon.
The court ruled that Mr Panthongtae had not known the source of a 10-million-baht cheque he received from a friend involved in the KTB loan scandal.
Public prosecutors arraigned Mr Panthongtae on Oct 10, 2018, charging him with receiving a cheque drawn on money from illegal loans totalling 9.9 billion baht obtained from the state-run KTB.
Mr Panthongtae denied money laundering. He said the money belonged to his friend Ratchada Krisdathanon, 53, who wanted to invest in a planned supercar import venture, which was later scrapped.
The court ruled Mr Panthongtae not guilty of money laundering because prosecutors failed to prove he knew that the 10 million baht came from Mr Ratchada's father, Wichai Krisdathanon, owner of real estate developer Krisdamahanakorn (KMC).
Mr Panthongthae received the money when he was a 26-year-old graduate and owned shares in his own companies worth about 4 billion baht. The 10-million-baht sum represented only 0.25% of his share wealth, the court said.
The New Palangdharma Party, however, now wants the OAG to appeal this ruling on the grounds that Mr Panthongtae must have known the money came from an illicit source.
Mr Panthongtae had not done any businesses with Mr Wichai or his son and had no debts to repay to them either.
It could be surmised that the money was a reward for something known only to Mr Wichai, Mr Ratchada and Mr Panthongtae, according to Mr Chaturon.
Mr Panthongtae had also put money claimed to be from businesses into his personal accounts, which appeared to be a rather unusual habit in business financial management, said Mr Chaturon.
Given all these unusual habits, Mr Panthongtae should clearly have known that the 10 million baht he received was a part of the KTB loan approved for the KMC, Mr Chaturon concluded.