The explosive revelations and allegations of regional cybercrimes and scam networks have hit Thailand head-on and placed the government of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in an awkward and defensive position. As more facts surrounding what looks like a labyrinthine cross-border multibillion-dollar transnational criminal ring come to light, more questions have surfaced with no clear answers. The Anutin government needs to come clean and avoid a “scam-gate” of cover-ups and lies at the expense of countless scammed victims across many countries.
Among the many questions and issues that have been raised, first and foremost is the role and possible involvement of senior government officials. That Deputy Finance Minister Vorapak Tanyawong has resigned in the wake of allegations linking him to BIC Bank in Cambodia, founded by controversial Cambodian businessman Yim Leak, only leads people to ask valid questions. What was the nature of Mr Vorapak’s relationship with Yim Leak?
And then there is the question of governance standards and equality under the law. Srettha Thavisin, the prime minister in 2023-24, was ousted by the Constitutional Court for ethical misconduct for a minor cabinet reshuffle involving a junior minister who had been convicted and jailed for six months on bribery charges. Pichit Cheunban, the junior minister in question, resigned as soon as the controversy came to light, but prosecution still proceeded and led to Mr Srettha’s removal on “morality and ethics” in Section 258 of the 2017 Constitution enacted during the military government.
Although Mr Vorapak has quit the government, should he still face misconduct investigations? If the same morality and ethics standards are applied to Mr Vorapak’s case with equally vigorous prosecution of constitutional requirements, should Mr Anutin not come under similar scrutiny?
These are uneasy questions that will likely be left unattended. When under a critical spotlight and faced with alleged wrongdoings, the powerful and privileged everywhere tend to feign innocence and ignorance in equal measure and issue repeated denials. In Thailand, they go further by threatening and actually launching lawsuits, often known as SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.
Because the justice system and judicial odds have become stacked against truthtellers, muckrakers, and whistleblowers, silence and self-censorship tend to prevail to the benefit of wrongdoers. People become tame and timid out of fear for good reason because truth-tellers have demonstrably suffered in the recent past. One glaring case was a senior police officer who went after human trafficking in the deep South only to be hounded by underworld bosses and chased into asylum in Australia.
In view of scam centres, associated fraud, trafficking, drugs, and money-laundering among cyber-criminal networks, it should be open season for investigative journalism. Muckraking can be a great challenge for professional achievements and good business for daring journalists. In this case, Thailand’s media professionals have been disappointing and shameful for not asking hard and probing questions for the public interest. Instead, intrepid journalism came from outside, a former reporter with the Wall Street Journal. In addition, stalwart MPs of the opposition People’s Party have had to conduct investigative journalism in exposing shady dealings among cybercriminals.
It is a worrying trend that Thailand’s oversight and checks-and-balance agencies and institutions are not doing their jobs. Where are Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office, Anti-Corruption Commission, and Auditor General’s Office? When it was their cue to go after political parties and politicians, they seemed keen and eager. But now we are likely to see a glacial pace and perfunctory pursuits of criminal wrongdoing.
Given the ongoing Thai-Cambodian border dispute, Mr Anutin appears to have been currying nationalist sentiments for political advantages, possibly for electoral gains ahead of the planned poll next year. Here is an opportunity to paint Cambodia as the culprit country and vortex of a global underworld beset with criminal scammers, money-launderers, human and drug traffickers, online betting agents, and transnational criminals of all stripes. But Mr Anutin seems less than enthusiastic. Even though he has lately pledged to crack down on these transnational crimes, it bears scrutiny whether any big fish will be caught or whether he will buy and bide time in the hope of letting the scandal quieten and blow over.
To be sure, what we are seeing with Mr Vorapak’s resignation and denial involving Yim Leak and BIC Bank may be just the tip of the iceberg. The backdrop of scam networks has other controversial figures, such as Chen Zhi, who is chairman of the Prince Group and Hun To of Huione Group, along with Benjamin Mauerberger, allegedly the key conduit among these criminal gangs. The Thai connections to these obscure figures and business outfits likely extend wide and deep.
The United States Treasury Department has already frozen nearly 500 billion baht of the Prince Group’s and Mr Chen’s crypto and other financial assets on cyberfraud, human trafficking and money laundering charges. The United Kingdom has similarly taken over the real estate assets of Mr Chen. The key country in this mix is South Korea, and its sanctions on Cambodia-based online scam networks. The South Korean government has explicitly stated that it will deploy all means necessary to rescue and safeguard its citizens who have been duped and harmed by scammers based in Cambodia.
Without South Korea, the US and UK could be dismissed for being part of some Western conspiracy against Cambodia. But South Korea is a country that Southeast Asians deeply respect and want to be like. Seoul’s intervention is what’s needed to maintain pressure and ensure further exposure and prosecution.
But the current Thai government seems to want this kind of pressure to go away. That the Prince Group has reportedly rented space from the prime minister’s Sino-Thai office building does not bode well. If Mr Anutin does not own up to all that Thai officials and businesspeople have to do with the expanding trail of corruption, fraud, and transnational criminal networks, his government’s longevity could be at risk and even end up shorter than the short four-month timeframe.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, PhD, is professor at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science and a senior fellow at its Institute of Security and International Studies in Bangkok.