Disgraced attorney steps down from corruption committees amid bribery allegations
Lawyer Taweewat Sengkaew, who hit the news after claiming ownership of a whopping 12 million baht found in a trash bin of his condo building, has cut all ties with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), according to the agency.
NACC's honcho, Saroj Phungramphan, spilled the beans on Saturday that Taweewat did the deed of quitting all three investigative subcommittees he was a part of, effective as of June 9.
"The NACC will march ahead with every Step related to this wild rodeo," Saroj said, keeping his lips sealed about the nitty-gritty.
The drama kicked off when a resident stumbled upon the dough stashed in a plastic container in the garbage area on the fourth floor of the condo in Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi, on June 5. She tipped off the Pak Kret police station, sharing her plan to reuse the throwaway container and discovering the cash while checking its contents.
Taweewatstepped forward at the police station, claiming he discarded the container after his fifth-floor unit suffered a burst water pipe. He thought the container contained old clothes, he said, remaining mum on how the 12 million baht wound up in the container.
Last week, three opposition MPs from the People's Party demanded the Revenue Department dig into the cash's wellspring.
Gossips swirled that Taweewat's wife is a director at the Office of the NACC, with an inquiry underway to determine whether she should've listed the 12 million baht as part of her assets.
With Taweewat stepping away from NACC, the investigation into the source of the dough remains up in the air. The police are digging deep into the dough's origins, tracking its possible bank account of withdrawal and the individual behind the withdrawals. The withdrawals are believed to have happened in May 2020, scattered across several transactions, with Taweewat citing "political" reasons for the transactions.
As the mystery unfolds, political and ethical questions linger about the dough and its source, with the public and opposition parties clamoring for transparency.
Amidst the ongoing investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will continue to probe the origins of the found 12 million baht, as Lawyer Taweewat Sengkaew, former member of NACC's investigative subcommittees, has withdrawn from all ties with the commission. Meanwhile, political questions about the mysterious origin of the funds persist, with opposition parties demanding a thorough investigation into the general-news story's wellspring, specifically the crime-and-justice implications behind the supposed "political" transactions made in May 2020.
