Ruangkrai claims oversights in Korn's asset declaration

Ruangkrai said yesterday that while studying Korn's financial statement he believed the minister had not paid tax for income allegedly earned in interest from loans and that he had not used proper duty stamps in a contract.

The senator also asked if Korn should have paid business tax for lending money.

He said Korn's assets seemed to have dropped by Bt121 million in the financial report filed after assuming his Cabinet seat in December, compared to a similar report filed the previous January when he was elected as MP. Ruangkrai claimed the sum was far too large to have been spent in 11 months.

Ruangkrai said Korn's financial statement showed he had given two separate loans and one of the contracts, for Bt10 million, did not carry Bt5,000 worth of duty stamps, allegedly as required. A Bt1 duty stamp is needed for every Bt2,000 lent.

He alleged that Korn had also not reported whether he had paid tax for income earned from interest imposed on the loans and wondered if such large loans should be subject to some kind of business levy.

The senator said Korn's list of liabilities contained a credit-card debt for the purchase of two Hermes products worth Bt277,020 but these were not included in his list of "other assets".

Ruangkrai said that as finance minister, Korn should set a good example by paying taxes properly. He urged the PM to look into the matter and see if the minister had followed his "nine rules" of transparency.

Korn said yesterday he was aware of the issue but would clarify things when the time was right. In an interview with The Nation recently, he said the value of his assets had been dropping since he entered politics.

Senator Ruangkrai made headlines last year when a petition he filed led to a court verdict that forced then prime minister Samak Sundaravej to step down. The complaint was about money Samak allegedly received for hosting a cooking show after he became PM.

Ruangkrai has also filed a complaint alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban's assets declaration is incomplete. He accused Suthep of failing to include income from an oyster farm, which was mentioned in a previous financial report filed with the NACC after he was elected as an MP last year.

Ruangkrai has been suspended from duty as a senator pending a Supreme Court ruling on whether the organisation that nominated him to be a senator was lawful.