By Thai Newsroom Reporters
NEWLY-ELECTED MP Chonnapat Naksua was today (March 12) briefly detained by the Department of Special Investigation on charges of involvement in online gambling and money-laundering activities and eventually released under bail.
The lawmaker elected in a Songkhla constituency under the Klatham banners was brought to the Criminal Court by the DSI holding him under custody pending further investigation whilst formally insisting in vain that the suspect be denied bail by court. However, the DSI custody of the MP-turned-suspect was only a matter of hours as the court released him under the one-million-baht bail.
De facto Klatham boss Thammanat Prompao has earlier remarked that the DSI lawsuit filed against Chonnapat was entirely a personal matter which, he said, was by no means related to any business of his party as a whole and that the MP-turned-suspect will yet fight the legal battle on his own.
Chonnapat categorically dismissed the alleged involvement in online gambling and money-laundering scams as charged by the DSI, an agency under care of the Ministry of Justice. If finally found guilty in court as charged, the suspect could possibly be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in jail.
Though elected lawmakers have no immunity to arrests by authorities on any criminal charges even after they have been officially verified following last month’s election, they could possibly be arrested by the authorities until the House opens on the upcoming Saturday.
Thammanat’s camp were more or less alleged of carrying a negative image with the likes of the southern MP being accused of involvement in such illegal businesses and the de facto party boss himself allegedly fostering personal association with Cambodia-based, transnational scammers and money-launderers such as the likes of Benjamin Mauerberger alias Ben Smith, among others.
The Klatham will likely be part of the opposition bloc at parliament whilst the Bhumjaithai, the largest elected camp surreptitiously steered by de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, have emerged as core of a coalition government under re-elected premiership of Anutin Charnvirakul.
CAPTION:
Klatham MP Chonnapat Naksua being taken to court today, March 12, 2026. Photos – Amarin TV
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