PUBLISHED : 20 Aug 2023 at 19:59
Former massage parlour tycoon turned political whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit rejects claims that his attacks on Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin are motivated by a conflict of interest.
Mr Sretta says Mr Chuvit’s attacks on him stem from his decision to not buy a prime plot owned by Mr Chuvit in the Thong Lor neighbourhood.
The land, it was reported, was valued at two billion baht.
Mr Srettha’s claim follows accusations by Mr Chuwit of improper business dealings by Sansiri Plc, the property company which Mr Sretta led prior to joining politics.
Fending off the allegations ahead of the second round of voting for the next prime minister tomorrow, Mr Srettha insisted last week that Sansiri strictly abides by the principles of good governance.
Mr Chuvit has now accused Mr Srettha of lying, saying in a Facebook post he was the one who declined to sell the plot to Mr Srettha, as he had already received a down payment from another buyer.
In the post, Mr Chuvit said it was actually Mr Srettha who had his close associate begging him to sell the land to Sansiri.
“How dare he call a press conference to tell a lie?” said Mr Chuvit.
“Seriously, I wonder if any senator would ever trust him enough to vote for him.”
In the Facebook post, Mr Chuvit also claimed that a security guard who was used as a nominee in N&N Asset Co, which sold a plot of land in Thong Lor to Sansiri while Mr Srettha was CEO, is also named a board member in the company that owns the private road in one of Sansiri’s residential projects near Klong Phra Khanong.
Sansiri had previously claimed to not know the security guard; but the same guard whose name emerged in the Thong Lor land deal has turned out to be a board member in the company owning Sansiri’s private road in a different project, Mr Chuvit said.
And it was this same security guard who signed his name when receiving a 1-billion-baht cheque from Sansiri’s subsidiary before N&N Asset sold the Thong Lor land to Sansiri, according to Mr Chuvit.
In another development, political activist and former senator Ruangkrai Leekitwattana said he has petitioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to order a check into N&N Asset’s tax payments.