Future Forward candidates deny claims of media shares, again
Future Forward party candidates have again denied a pro-Junta activist’s accusations that some of their members have shares in media companies. Srisuwan Chanya, describing himself as a social activist, earlier this week asked the Election Commission to take legal action against 11 candidates of the party, claiming they owned shares in media firms.
If a candidate is found guilty of the claim they could be jailed for up to 10 years and/or fined 20,000-200,000 baht. Their electoral rights would also be banned for 20 years.
But a party list candidate, Karom Ponpornklang representing the 11 candidates, told reporters that he and other candidates had no stocks in any media companies. He claimed Srisuwan was politically motivated and had no evidence to back up his claims.
Karom also referred to the candidates’ request for police to take action against Srisuwan for filing false information against them. He said Srisuwan should take responsibility for the allegation and should not walk free when the complaints proved groundless.
“We submitted the police’s request to the EC to protect our rights,” he said. Srisuwan said he was not disturbed by the police complaint, saying he had enough solid evidence before he approached the EC.
The Future Forward leader, Thanathorn Juengrungruengkit, also faces the same allegations and has already met the EC panel to defend himself in a three hour meeting last Tuesday.
SOURCE: The Thaiger
