The government’s controversial digital wallet scheme is facing increasing opposition, with opponents seeking intervention from the Central Administrative Court, the Election Commission, the Office of Auditor-General and the Ombudsman to put the scheme on hold.

 

Thai Pakdee Party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom filed a complaint with the Auditor-General’s Office yesterday (Wednesday), asking for a probe into the digital wallet scheme before submitting its findings to the Administrative Court to seek the scheme’s suspension.

 

Claiming that the scheme will cause extensive damage to the economy, Dr Warong questions why the government does not provide the Bt10,000 benefit in the form of cash, instead of digital tokens, which is too complicated for the people in general and will not benefit small retail outlets because they normally do not have significant cash reserves and they prefer payment in cash.

 

Caption: Thai Pakdee Party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom files a complaint with the Auditor-General’s Office on Thursday.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2023-10-19

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

Warong is the former Democrat MP who relentlessly probed Yingluck's rice pledging scam and eventually uncovered enough sleaze to put a number of Thaksin lackeys in jail. Go for it.

Give that man a medal for calling out the digital wallet snout in the trough circus.

7 minutes ago, Karma80 said:

Give that man a medal for calling out the digital wallet snout in the trough circus.

Well, he'd rather the handout were in cash. He's not opposing the scheme. He's opposing the fact that it is not generous enough. Maybe another opponent will demand the handout be in gold? Or in USD?

29 minutes ago, JackGats said:

He's not opposing the scheme.

because he knows they will never give cash... too untraceable

This wallet thing poses a serious liquidity problem. What I suspect will happen, is that some clever operators will make billions helping the masses turn part of their digital money into money they can spend.

1 hour ago, Pouatchee said:

because he knows they will never give cash... too untraceable

People were cashing in the covid handouts a couple of years ago, this will be the same, vendor gets 10%

The goverment would welcome if the courts banned the payment costing 560 billion. That would get them off the hook after bribing the voters and not having to pay out. After  all Thaksin's return was  the real reason for  the bribe. 

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Claiming that the scheme will cause extensive damage to the economy, Dr Warong questions why the government does not provide the Bt10,000 benefit in the form of cash, instead of digital tokens, which is too complicated for the people in general and will not benefit small retail outlets because they normally do not have significant cash reserves and they prefer payment in cash.

Exactly, give it to every person in cash and allow them so spend it wherever they want.

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Claiming that the scheme will cause extensive damage to the economy, Dr Warong questions why the government does not provide the Bt10,000 benefit in the form of cash, instead of digital tokens, which is too complicated for the people in general and will not benefit small retail outlets because they normally do not have significant cash reserves and they prefer payment in cash.

Cash is King, nudge nudge, wink wink! 💰

13 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

because he knows they will never give cash... too untraceable

wrong... it is because the scheme is made so that you can only use the digital cash within a certain number of Km from your residence. Making it useless to more Thai than those who can actually use it who live in cities. The majority of Thais do not live in cities where they can find shops willing to accept their digital wallets. Instead they live in rural communities with very few shops near. Making the money useless to them. So it surely does not help the ones who would use it for self sustainability unless they have some good shops near their homes that are willing to accept the digital money.. If given cash, they can go to the places they normally shop and use the cash for things needed and wanting which in turn would help the outlets. This scheme is actually a very bad idea simply because it will not help those who really need it.. and instead will only help those who are within the range they will assign to the card or app closest to your home. My Thai family home is 15 Km from the nearest supermarket or convenience store.. So this scheme using their wallet is useless to them. I am most certain this applies to the majority of Thais as well. Especially in the north where the most poor live far from any major shopping outlet. 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

with opponents seeking intervention from the Central Administrative Court, the Election Commission, the Office of Auditor-General and the Ombudsman to put the scheme on hold.

Stick a fork in this one.

 

I mean it was a non-starter from the get-go, but reality has set in.

 

Massive loss of face for Srettha and Thaksin.

 

 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai Pakdee Party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom filed a complaint with the Auditor-General’s Office yesterday

Mentioned this elsewhere.......I think the PM has asked for this to happen so he can worm out of keeping his promise.

30 minutes ago, thesetat said:

13 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

because he knows they will never give cash... too untraceable

wrong... it is because the scheme is made so that you can only use the digital cash within a certain number of Km from your residence.

 check again. seems now people will be able to use it in the regions they live in and not within a certain distance. were it within a certain distance, i would totally agree with you. we live 8 km from the nearest tesco or halfway decent shop. seems they realised the error of their ways

There are so many ways that tis scheme can fail, or be subverted, I cannot believe hat these were not thought through first.  Big traders with adequate cash flow will be able to convert the digital money to cash at a cost, an d they will profit.  Jus what Srettha and his cronies planned in the first place.   it is not buying popularity it is being paid to get popularity.

An off-topic post in violation of our Community Standards has been removed

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Warong questions why the government does not provide the Bt10,000 benefit in the form of cash, instead of digital tokens

Jus look into who owns the digital wallet company, which will be worth hundreds of Billions, by the time the digital wallet scheme have ended.

12 minutes ago, Xonax said:

Jus look into who owns the digital wallet company,

dont leave me in suspense. who?

Just now, Pouatchee said:

dont leave me in suspense. who?

Chalerm? Thamanat? Thaksin?

1 hour ago, bamnutsak said:

Massive loss of face for Srettha and Thaksin.

Nobody cares about face since nothing is wrong, in fact never been better. This circus was already planed to happen the way it is since Taksin was in news for his return long ago. 

No need to use CBDC, better look into how El Salvador distributed their digital wallet using the Lightning network. Although not 100% successful, Salvadorians have used this for several years....

18 hours ago, JackGats said:

Well, he'd rather the handout were in cash. He's not opposing the scheme. He's opposing the fact that it is not generous enough. Maybe another opponent will demand the handout be in gold? Or in USD?

Or in Monopoly Money perhaps.

That is what we will all be dealing with sooner rather than later if world leaders continue to be octogenerians, incompetents, and crooks.

Edited October 20, 20232 yr by AnnaBanana

Hub of crackpot ideas. 500+ billion for the digital wallet. More than 1 trillion for the land bridge. 20 baht fare for Purple and Red lines, assuring they'll need to short cut maintenance.

6 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Hub of crackpot ideas. 500+ billion for the digital wallet. More than 1 trillion for the land bridge. 20 baht fare for Purple and Red lines, assuring they'll need to short cut maintenance.

You have details of the digital wallet and land bridge to enable you to declare they are crackpot ideas. It’s ok if you say it’s just your own assumption.