Srettha ‘Would Do Without Honesty, Good Governance’: Chuwit

[webfact]

 

PHEU THAI CANDIDATE FOR prime minister Srettha Thavisin was today (Aug.3) accused of lacking honesty and good governance to otherwise deserve to take the helm of government.

 

In a press conference at a Bangkok hotel, political activist Chuwit Kamolvisit alleged Srettha of having conspired to help others evade 521 million baht in tax for the sales of a pricey parcel of land on Sarasin road in lush Sathorn area in 2019 during his time as president of a giant real estate firm named Sansiri Plc.

 

Chuwit charged that Srettha had been involved in the alleged evasion of the 521 million baht personal income tax by having a total of 12 individuals who separately owned the land under one land title deed sell off his or her respective plot to the property firm in 12 consecutive days or one seller per day.

 

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

Political activist Chuwit Kamolvisit. Picture: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright  THAI NEWSROOM 2023-08-04

 

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Full story: https://thainewsroom.com/2023/08/03/srettha-would-do-without-honesty-good-governance-chuwit/

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Chuwit charged that Srettha had been involved in the alleged evasion of the 521 million baht personal income tax by having a total of 12 individuals who separately owned the land under one land title deed sell off his or her respective plot to the property firm in 12 consecutive days or one seller per day.

Smart business plan... that's how the rich, remain rich.

[ikke1959]

Was that not the same with a satellite and the fugitive?

[2baht]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

accused of lacking honesty and good governance

Situation normal!

[Mr Meeseeks]

I think if you look close enough, you will find that the vast majority have got rich through corruption, exploitation, cheating, stealing or inheritance. Many from a combination of all of the above. 

 

Thai business is even worse than Thai politics, and operates in a similar manner of greed, deception and almost total self-interest.

[bamnutsak]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

n a press conference at a Bangkok hotel, political activist Chuwit Kamolvisit alleged Srettha of having conspired to help others evade 521 million baht in tax for the sales of a pricey parcel of land

How is this NOT Defamation?

 

 

[CelticBhoy]

I like that nobody is surprised with this news.

We've all gotten used to their conniving ways.

[kingstonkid]

49 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

How is this NOT Defamation?

 

 

Probably is but if it's true the last thing sretha is going to do is take him to court so that all the information can be put in the open and in the government records.

[Tropicalevo]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Srettha Thavisin was today (Aug.3) accused of lacking honesty and good governance

Perfect PM material compared with recent PM's

[soalbundy]

3 hours ago, 2baht said:

Situation normal!

admirable qualifications for a high office in any government.

[damian]

2 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I think if you look close enough, you will find that the vast majority have got rich through corruption, exploitation, cheating, stealing or inheritance. Many from a combination of all of the above. 

 

Thai business is even worse than Thai politics, and operates in a similar manner of greed, deception and almost total self-interest.

Yes and now we have a Thai businessmen and Thai politician as one in a candidate PM. We had one of these before.

[anchadian]

Thai Enquirer

@ThaiEnquirer

 

Former MP Chuwit Kamolvisit said he doesn't have much time left.

 

He mentioned undergoing chemotherapy, and his life is "hanging on a line."

 

His comments followed criticisms of his accusations against Pheu Thai PM Candidate Srettha Thavisin.

 

He also stated that he will provide more evidence on the allegations.

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiEnquirer/status/1687304383640518656

 

[Scouse123]

1 hour ago, anchadian said:

Thai Enquirer

@ThaiEnquirer

 

Former MP Chuwit Kamolvisit said he doesn't have much time left.

 

He mentioned undergoing chemotherapy, and his life is "hanging on a line."

 

His comments followed criticisms of his accusations against Pheu Thai PM Candidate Srettha Thavisin.

 

He also stated that he will provide more evidence on the allegations.

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiEnquirer/status/1687304383640518656

 

I suppose when it gets to this he doesn't give a damn about defamation laws.

[phetphet]

4 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

How is this NOT Defamation?

 

 

Wasn't it mentioned in the news in the last day or two that he, Sretta was being looked at for tax evasion?

[Olav Seglem]

If he is that smart running a company, he should be able to create a streamlined effective, smooth running government organization within a year (or 2) :-)

 

[Mavideol]

concluding.... they all have some skeletons in the closet 555

[proton]

2 minutes ago, Olav Seglem said:

If he is that smart running a company, he should be able to create a streamlined effective, smooth running government organization within a year (or 2) ????

 

Could not even build decent value for money houses ????

[bamnutsak]

13 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Wasn't it mentioned in the news in the last day or two that he, Sretta was being looked at for tax evasion?

Yes. A news article based on "allegations" made by Chuwit.

 

 

[samtam]

The longer the delay in choosing a PM, the more opportunity to unearth skeletons. Glum faces at Pheu Thai (PT) today. Their strategic dumping of MF has a tiny little complication in it. Even if MF do vote for Srettha as PM, they are now waiting to see which other parties form the PT coalition. If it includes junta parties, their vote will be withheld, and PT will have to rely on senate votes, (which may come with strings, including a seat in the cabinet for Prawit; possibly even the biggest seat).

[Dogmatix]

Sansiri purchased a rai of land on Sarasin Road for 1.57 bn. There were 12 owners on the deed, each with specified percentage ownership ranging from 5% to 40%. The sellers should have been treated as unregistered partnership for tax purposes and there are tax cases establishing precedent for this. That would mean withholding tax deducted at the land office but the partnership should have filed a PND 90 return for the year and would have paid tax at 35% on the profit less whatever w/h tax deducted at the land office. The land was acquired in 1984 from the Sarasin family, so must have been a lot of profit to pay tax on. Chuvit claims that the fact that the sale was broken up into 12 separate transfers on 12 consecutive working days, even though it was a single title deed makes it obvious that the intent of the sellers to avoid being considered as a partnership.  Otherwise why would you do it like that? However, Chuvit didn't produce evidence that they didn't file tax as a partnership which would be impossible anyway, if they really didn't.  Plus a large portion of was paid in cash which looks suspicious.

 

Total tax paid on the transfer was 59m.  Of this 2% must have been transfer tax and 0.5% stamp duty for a total of 39.25m leaving only about 20m paid as w/h tax. This looks understated even if the seller were entitled to tax treatment as individual sellers.  If correctly taxed as partnership, the total income tax would probably have been around 450m.  So including the transfer tax and stamp duty, Chuvit's figure of 521m looks right on the button.

 

Total tax paid on the transfer was 59m.  Of this 2% must have been transfer tax and 0.5% stamp duty for a total of 39.25m leaving only about 20m paid as w/h tax. This looks on the low side even if the seller were entitled to tax treatment as individual sellers.  If correctly taxed as a partnership, the total income tax would probably have been around 450m.  So including the transfer tax and stamp duty, Chuvit's figure of 521m looks right on the button.

 

An interesting side effect of the constitutional court delaying the PM vote will to give time to allow this unsavory piece of news to be understood and fully digested. The uncles don't like Srettha and would would prefer Ung Ing to him, if it has to be PT. Srettha voiced support for the MFP policy to amend 112 on the campaign trail which makes the senators wary of him, plus his past association with Yingluck make him unappealing to them. (Ung Ing is also on record as saying PT would amend 112 in 2021 but she she is less likely to go rogue as PM, as she is directly controlled by Thaksin.)  It also brings the possibility of Prawit or Anutin as PM closer to reality.

 

The chart below is from Chuvit's press conference.  It shows all 12 transactions with the amount of tax paid on each and the proportion of cash paid to each seller. 

 

 

 

[Dogmatix]

Property taxes explained and what you need to know.  A helpful guide from Sansiri.

 

https://www.sansiri.com/en/news/thai-property-taxes-explained-what-you-need-to-know-286/

[PETERTHEEATER]

There is 'tax evasion' and 'tax avoidance'. Wealthy people employ the services of financial advisers to use devious yet not illegal ways to avoid excess tax which might be the case here. Tax evasion, on the other hand, implies that a sum of tax payable had already been assessed and demanded by the authorities yet the subject had not paid it. The charge is for personal income tax, not corporate.

[thecyclist]

9 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Smart business plan... that's how the rich, remain rich.

That's how the rich get richer and richer and richer  ..

[thecyclist]

9 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

There is 'tax evasion' and 'tax avoidance'. Wealthy people employ the services of financial advisers to use devious yet not illegal ways to avoid excess tax which might be the case here. Tax evasion, on the other hand, implies that a sum of tax payable had already been assessed and demanded by the authorities yet the subject had not paid it. The charge is for personal income tax, not corporate.

Legally there is a difference, morally there is none  

[kingstonkid]

30 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

Sansiri purchased a rai of land on Sarasin Road for 1.57 bn. There were 12 owners on the deed, each with specified percentage ownership ranging from 5% to 40%. The sellers should have been treated as unregistered partnership for tax purposes and there are tax cases establishing precedent for this. That would mean withholding tax deducted at the land office but the partnership should have filed a PND 90 return for the year and would have paid tax at 35% on the profit less whatever w/h tax deducted at the land office. The land was acquired in 1984 from the Sarasin family, so must have been a lot of profit to pay tax on. Chuvit claims that the fact that the sale was broken up into 12 separate transfers on 12 consecutive working days, even though it was a single title deed makes it obvious that the intent of the sellers to avoid being considered as a partnership.  Otherwise why would you do it like that? However, Chuvit didn't produce evidence that they didn't file tax as a partnership which would be impossible anyway, if they really didn't.  Plus a large portion of was paid in cash which looks suspicious.

 

Total tax paid on the transfer was 59m.  Of this 2% must have been transfer tax and 0.5% stamp duty for a total of 39.25m leaving only about 20m paid as w/h tax. This looks understated even if the seller were entitled to tax treatment as individual sellers.  If correctly taxed as partnership, the total income tax would probably have been around 450m.  So including the transfer tax and stamp duty, Chuvit's figure of 521m looks right on the button.

 

Total tax paid on the transfer was 59m.  Of this 2% must have been transfer tax and 0.5% stamp duty for a total of 39.25m leaving only about 20m paid as w/h tax. This looks on the low side even if the seller were entitled to tax treatment as individual sellers.  If correctly taxed as a partnership, the total income tax would probably have been around 450m.  So including the transfer tax and stamp duty, Chuvit's figure of 521m looks right on the button.

 

An interesting side effect of the constitutional court delaying the PM vote will to give time to allow this unsavory piece of news to be understood and fully digested. The uncles don't like Srettha and would would prefer Ung Ing to him, if it has to be PT. Srettha voiced support for the MFP policy to amend 112 on the campaign trail which makes the senators wary of him, plus his past association with Yingluck make him unappealing to them. (Ung Ing is also on record as saying PT would amend 112 in 2021 but she she is less likely to go rogue as PM, as she is directly controlled by Thaksin.)  It also brings the possibility of Prawit or Anutin as PM closer to reality.

 

The chart below is from Chuvit's press conference.  It shows all 12 transactions with the amount of tax paid on each and the proportion of cash paid to each seller. 

 

 

 

The fact tht Ung Ing is thaksin is why a lot of senators will not vote for her.  nor will she get support from any of hte military parties,  Art 112 hs very little to do wth it.  The main sticking point is that the junta has always defeated the PT and does ot lilke them.  Therefore those apointed by the Junta are more likely to vote against any PT member.  They just have to find  reason.

 

Also factor in that as ling as this goes on the Junta still controls the country and Prayut is still the PM.  

 

If this were Canada, Australia the governor general  would step in to sort this out  Not using UK for 112 reasons

Edited August 4, 2023 by kingstonkid

[anchadian]

(1/2) Former massage parlour tycoon turned whistle blower Chuwit Kamolvisit submitted a petition to the Revenue Department Fri alleging Pheu Thai PM candidate #Srettha Thavisin evaded taxes worth over 500 million baht as President of Sansiri Pcl in a land purchase real

 

(2/2) Both Sansiri and the Pheu Thai Party have denied any wrongdoing. In a related development, Sorrayuth Suthasanachinda, a friend of Chuwut revealed today Chuwit is suffering from cirrhosis and has eight more months to live.

 

https://twitter.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1687424943016009730

[anchadian]

Senator Somchai Sawangkarn said Pheu Thai PM Candidate Srettha Thavisin should be given a chance to clarify the allegations against him in parliament during the next PM voting.

 

Chuwit Kamolvisit accused Srettha of being an accomplice in tax evasion through concealed transactions worth more than 500 million baht.

 

San Siri already denied that its former CEO and the company were involved.

 

Somchai said Srettha deserves to be able to clarify himself in parliament, even though he is not an MP, since senators might have questions to ask him regarding the allegations.

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiEnquirer/status/1687434461963853824

 

[BayArea]

15 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

Thai business is even worse than Thai politics, and operates in a similar manner of greed, deception and almost total self-interest.

Italy says hold my beer!????