People’s Party MP summoned as forex fraud probe widens

The Department of Special Investigation has issued summonses to a number of individuals, including People’s Party MP Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, to answer questions by July 2 in connection with foreign exchange (forex) fraud cases, Justice Minister Rutthapon Naowarat said today.

The DSI is expediting its investigation after accepting the forex scandal as a special case, but cautioned that the inquiry will take time because of the large volume of transactions and evidence involved.

The minister said investigators are examining as many as 70,000 financial transactions, requiring extensive analysis, in addition to a substantial amount of documentary and digital evidence.

He said DSI officers searched 24 locations on June 16 and seized a large quantity of evidence, including computers.

Regarding Pawoot’s claim that a video clip circulating online was not intended to advertise or persuade people to invest, Rutthapon said the matter would depend on the evidence gathered and ultimately on the court’s discretion.

Rutthapon said the DSI is now working closely with the Bank of Thailand and has also referred the matter to the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) for further examination.

Meanwhile, Pawoot appeared before the media for the first time since being linked to the forex-related money laundering case, before attending a parliamentary meeting.

He insisted that he has no connection to any scam syndicate, foreign exchange trading business, Ponzi scheme or transnational criminal network. He also denied ever inviting anyone to invest and said he was merely a retail client who had opened an account to trade gold futures through the application and platform of QRS brokerage.

Such trading activity is common in Thailand, he said, although he acknowledged that there may be legal grey areas under which some service providers and brokers still operate without formal licences in the country.

“I stopped trading a long time ago. To be honest, I lost money too,” he said.

On his political future, Pawoot insisted that he remains only an initial suspect in the justice process and has not been formally charged.

He said he was confident he had committed no wrongdoing and dismissed rumours that he would resign as an MP or attempt to flee.

“Right now I’m only a suspect. I’m confident I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m just a trader,” he said.