By Thai Newsroom Reporters
HUNDREDS OF FORMER SENATORIAL contestants may become witnesses to electoral rigging scandals over last year’s nationwide races with their anticipated confession of playing their part in such bloc-voting, vote-buying and money-laundering shenanigans, according to government officials.
Out of some 1,200 former senatorial contenders and others whom the Department of Special Investigation has been interrogating in regard to the electoral fraud charges allegedly perpetrated in the triple-tiered, complicated elections, hundreds may eventually opt out by admitting to the investigative agency that they had been literally hired by politically-connected persons to cast votes for certain fellow candidates ranging from district and provincial to national levels.
Those contestants had been allegedly involved in the vote-buying, bloc-voting plots by picking the numbers of certain fellow candidates clandestinely dictated by the rigging organizers in return for cash ranging from several thousands to a hundred of thousands of baht each, the officials said.
That referred to as many as 138 winning contestants who had allegedly found their way to parliament via the bloc-voting, vote-buying and money-laundering shenanigans designed and orchestrated by the politically-associated, yet-unnamed persons.
Many will likely be charged with involvement in vote-buying, money-laundering plots which had allegedly landed them victories through such electoral rigging manner whilst most have been accused of funneling a combined millions of baht in monthly pay worth of the taxpayers’ money for their “advisers” to a particular political party.
Most of the 138 suspected senators have so far apparently performed in line with legislative movements made by the Bhumjaithai, the second largest coalition partner, steered in hush-hush fashion by de facto party boss Newin Chidchob.
Nevertheless, some of the 138 senators suspected by the DSI of involvement in the bloc-voting, money-laundering charges could possibly be held as witnesses whilst others would be spared no leniency and finally brought to justice.
A range of 400 to 500 million baht in cash had been collectively spent in the vote-buying, money-laundering conspiracy including the money earlier given away to some of the senatorial contestants who will likely become witnesses for the DSI which is questioning their alleged involvement in the electoral rigging scandals, which have been formally bunched up as a special case primarily in regard to the money-laundering charges.
The DSI, which had quietly launched in-depth investigation into the senatorial rigging scandals before they formally turned to be a special case, is a government agency under care of Justice Minister Thavi Sodsong, who concurrently performs as leader of the Prachachart, one of the splinter coalition partners, and is largely viewed as quietly responsive to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s father/de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra.
CAPTIONS:
Top: DSI logo overlaid on an image of Parliament meeting chamber. Photo: Thai Rath
Front Page: Entrance to DSI office. Photo: Thai Rath
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