Chalerm: We can nail Abhisit, Democrats

Chalerm Yoobamrung, the opposition's chief debater in the upcoming parliamentary censure, expressed confidence yesterday his information would land the ruling Democrat Party and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in trouble.

"I hope Thai society will learn what the Democrat Party and Abhisit did to Thai politics. I am confident that if I can present only 70 per cent of the information I have, the Democrats and the prime minister will certainly be in trouble," Chalerm said.

The Pheu Thai Party's chief MP said he did not expect the censure debate to lead to a reshuffle in the Cabinet or a rift among coalition parties. But he expressed hope that the public would find the opposition's allegations convincing and therefore put more pressure on the government.

The no-confidence debate against the prime minister and five other Cabinet members is set to begin tomorrow.

Chalerm said his debate would focus on the prime minister and Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Pataraprasit, now not part of the Democrat Party but who formerly served as its secretary-general.

The opposition's veteran politician yesterday said he would focus on the allegation that the Democrat Party many years ago obtained a donation of Bt258 million from Prachai Leophairatana, then the top executive of TPI Polene, a public company listed on the stock exchange.

At that time,Pradit was Democrat secretary-general and Banyat Bantadtan was party leader.

Chalerm said his point was that the donation came from someone who did not really own the money.

"When the money doesn't belong to the person who gives it, you can't call that a donation. The money is not a personal asset; it comes from the stock exchange. That's my point," he said.

The politician said that shortly after the censure debate, he would display the information in a small exhibition at the opposition's room in the Parliament building.

One week after the debate, he would also "gather all the proof" and display it at a larger exhibition for political enthusiasts and media professionals.

Chalerm is not Pheu Thai's party leader and does not hold the official position of opposition leader. However, Pheu Thai nominated him as its replacement prime minister in case Abhisit fails to get enough votes in the upcoming censure debate.

He admitted yesterday that Pheu Thai might be "a bit clumsy" as an opposition party.

"People elected us to become a government party, not an opposition party. We may look a bit clumsy because we are not good at being in opposition. I believe we won't be in the opposition for too long. If there is an election, we will return as the government," Chalerm said.

In a related development, TPI Polene warned yesterday the company would take legal action against any MP who made defamatory comments against it during the censure debate.

Executive vice president Silapin Buranasilapin said yesterday the company's legal team would closely follow the censure debate and take legal action if needed.

"The company recently called a press conference about this matter. We did not donate Bt258 million to any particular political party. The accusation may have been [mistakenly] linked to the company's advertising spending," he said.