Prachai cash illegal : rival

Thaikorn Polsuwan, who stood for election in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen under the banner of the now-disbanded Matchima Thipataya Party, said documentary evidence was now in the hands of the opposition Pheu Thai Party.

Thaikorn said he was one of the former shareholders of an advertising firm, which received the money from business tycoon Prachai Leophairatana, a former Matchima Thipataya leader.

Prachai yesterday admitted that he had made a total of Bt250 million in contributions to the Democrat Party. At the time, there was no cap in making contributions to a political party.

The funds were meant for a publicity campaign, he said.

Before entering politics, Prachai was the founder of the TPI Group, an industrial conglomerate.

According to the 2007 Constitution, contributions to a political party cannot exceed Bt10 million per corporate contributor. However, Prachai's contributions took place in 2005 - before the new charter took effect.

Election Commission member Sodsri Satayatham said yesterday that there was no limit on party contributions at the time, and therefore no requirement for an audit by the commission.

Still, Pheu Thai has threatened to censure the Abhisit Vejjajiva government on what it considers to be dubious contributions.

Thaikorn said the money from Prachai was passed through an advertising firm to several executives of the Democrat Party in small amounts of Bt1.7 million-Bt1.9 million each, in order to avoid detection by the Bank of Thailand.

The alleged wrongdoing became public when the Revenue Department found fake invoices had been used by TPI to claim tax credits.

Thaikorn said all recipients of the money were Democratic executives responsible for the general election, so the party had broken the law and should be disbanded.