The Pheu Thai Party and SC Asset Corporation have denied having any links to a Chinese criminal syndicate run by businessman and suspected crime boss Chaiyanat "Tuhao" Kornchayanant, saying foes are trying to ruin the reputation of the party and the company.
SC Asset on Sunday said the company's transactions are carried out in a transparent manner and in line with principles of good governance. The company also noted that it can only sell houses in its projects to Thai citizens and legal entities only.
Its statement stressed that house purchases must be paid via bank transfers, following claims that the syndicate and its nominees had bought a number of properties in cash.
The company's shareholders also have nothing to do with the sale of houses to the crime syndicate, the firm said.
Meanwhile, deputy chairman of the Pheu Thai Party's strategic committee, Noppadon Pattama, said ill-intentioned people are trying to link Pheu Thai to Tuhao's syndicate to ruin its reputation.
Pheu Thai has nothing to do with Tuhao and he has never donated any money to the party, Mr Noppadon said, noting Pheu Thai was not in power when the crime ring began its expansion to Thailand.
He said efforts to link the purchase of houses developed by SC Asset and Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who holds shares in the company, are politically motivated.
"Ms Paetongtarn does not know Tuhao. She is a shareholder, not an executive of the company. She has nothing to do with the sale and purchase of houses," Mr Noppadon said.
On Nov 29, police raided 11 locations across Greater Bangkok, including a luxury housing project in the La Salle area of Samut Prakan.
Police searched three out of the 50 houses in the project, which are owned by a suspected nominee of the drug syndicate.
A police probe found that many houses owned by the nominee of the Chinese criminal syndicate tied to Tuhao were developed by SET-listed developer SC Asset Corporation, which counts members of the Shinawatra family as its shareholders, a source said.
According to SET filings, Ms Paetongtarn, head of Pheu Thai's inclusion and innovation advisory panel and youngest daughter of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is the largest shareholder in SC Asset, holding 28.82% of the company's shares, followed by elder sister Pintongta Shinawatra Kunakornwong, with 27.89%.
Khunying Potjaman Damapong, Thaksin's former wife, meanwhile, is the fourth-largest shareholder with 2.78% of the company's shares.
On Saturday, Ruengkrai Leekit- wattana, a former member of the Palang Pracharath Party, petitioned the National Anti-Corruption Commission to look at whether Sarawuth Phetphanomporn, a Pheu Thai MP for Udon Thani, declared his wife Nudeeporn's assets when he took office in May 2019.
Citing reports from Isra News Agency, Mr Ruengkrai said Ms Nudeeporn, the daughter of former deputy prime minister Pol Gen Pracha Promnok in the Yingluck Shinawatra government, is the second-largest shareholder in a property rental company in Phuket, of which Tuhao is the largest shareholder.
The investigation followed a raid on Jinling Pub in Yannawa district on Oct 26, where 99 Chinese nationals were found to be under the influence of drugs.
