Bangkok: PM tells opposition to file tax investigation, insisting on following all rules, confused! Bringing up other governments, "Paetongtarn" points out "Thaksin" monitors like a commoner, ignores social media saying he lost votes to "Big Pom". At 10.22 am, Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister, arrived at the Parliament building to join the House of Representatives meeting on the motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister on the second day. She spoke about the overall picture of the debate on the first day, saying that the overall picture was good. Mr. Phumtham Wechayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, also had an enjoyable debate.
According to Thai News Agency, when asked if the opposition expected the prime minister to give a long explanation, especially regarding the land and hotel in Khao Yai belonging to the prime minister's family, which has not been clearly explained, Ms. Paethongtarn replied that they wanted a long explanation, but in fact, the importance should be on the content. As for the time, we have to respect the parliament's time. Personally, I am a person who speaks directly to the point. I am not good at lengthy speech, but I will try. What I said yesterday was clear, and I am glad that many parties have expanded on it, saying that what I said was clear. As for the hotel in Khao Yai, Mr. Varawut Silpa-archa, Minister of Social Development and Human Security, has already given a fairly detailed explanation. I do not want to waste too much of the parliament's time because today we have 3.30 hours, so I do not want to waste it.
When asked if the opposition party was afraid that the highlight of the debate would be a knockout punch, the Prime Minister said, 'I'm not afraid,' because there shouldn't be anything we did wrong or wasn't transparent about. For example, our country's accounting has been examined in detail since the 2006 coup. Everything is transparent. There's nothing hidden from small accounts. Our explanation of our assets and liabilities is in accordance with the rules. We also constantly ask what we need to do if we buy new ones. We try to make it clear all the time.
When asked if the Prime Minister would have to explain anything further to the public after this, Ms. Paethongtarn said that she thought it was complete. If there was anything she had questions about, she could tell them, in case she had not collected everything.
When asked again whether the opposition party was worried about the Prime Minister's statement that they were preparing to submit a tax audit to the Revenue Department, including an ethics complaint, the Prime Minister said that they could submit it according to the process so that they would know what would happen next. He confirmed that he personally followed all the rules and regulations. If they wanted to investigate further, they could, because since he entered politics, he had known that he would be investigated.
As for whether he will use today's opportunity to clarify the 14th floor case, which was heatedly debated by Mr. Rangsiman Rome, a party-list MP for the Prachachon Party, the Prime Minister said that regarding the 14th floor, he would like to gather the issues first to see if there are any areas that should be answered or not, because it is the duty of the Ministry of Justice to provide detailed answers.
'The 14th floor case happened before I became prime minister. When former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand, I was not prime minister yet. It wasn't until I left the hospital that I became prime minister. So we have to look at what the opposition is discussing, which is the work of other governments. I'm also confused as to why they are discussing Paethongtarn Shinawatra,' the prime minister said.
When asked if the PM had received a report about the Kla Tham Party stating that 10 opposition MPs would raise their hands to support the PM, Ms. Paethongtarn said, 'No, because our coalition parties are already strong. And how should we answer this because we don't know and haven't voted yet? We have to vote tomorrow (March 26).'
As for Mr Thaksin, who monitored the debate the whole time, what advice did he give? The Prime Minister admitted that Mr Thaksin was indeed monitoring and had sent many messages, but Ton didn't read any of them because he was very busy preparing the issues, so he rarely checked his phone. He used it to check Instagram and the news, and he didn't reply to anyone's messages. Moreover, his father called to ask how he was, whether he was OK or not, but there was nothing. The comments sent during each period were funny, nothing special. They were like comments from a commoner who had an opinion. Mr Thaksin commented like that, nothing special.
When asked how tired he was on the first day of the debate, the Prime Minister said he arrived early yesterday and stayed for over 20 hours before he could sleep. However, he admitted that everything was okay because the ministers stayed for several hours to help each other. He thought he would stay quite late today to take turns.
When asked what the prime minister was thinking while explaining the debate by Prawit Wongsuwan, a party-list MP and leader of the Palang Pracharath Party, and answering that it was not true, the prime minister smiled and said, 'Well, it is not true. Let me give a short answer first, then I will give a long answer later.'
When asked again whether he was afraid of losing votes to General Prawit, because social media thought that answering such a question would lose votes, the Prime Minister said, "Yes, we can share it.