People’s Party MP Rukchanok ‘Ice’ Srinork has questioned a budget request by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), while expressing concern that the person tipped to be the agency’s next chief might not act impartially in the investigation into money-laundering in the 2024 Senate election.
Her remarks prompted protests from Bhumjaithai Party MPs, who accused her of referring to people outside parliament and using inappropriate language.
The heated exchanges took place on Wednesday during a House session to consider the 2027 budget bill, chaired by Deputy Speaker Lertsak Pattanachaikul.
The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to decide on Sept 14 whether election law violations occurred during the 2024 Senate poll, which could have huge implications for Bhumjaithai, and possibly for the DSI as well.
The DSI has separately been investigating criminal association, conspiracy and money laundering allegations linked to the poll, and has interviewed hundreds of people over the past two years.
Ms Rukchanok said she was concerned about whether the DSI had sufficient expertise to analyse financial trails and complex cases, particularly the case stemming from alleged fraud involving Senate candidates.
During the debate on Wednesday on the Justice Ministry budget, she said documents examined by a House subcommittee raised questions about whether the DSI’s proposed projects addressed its actual operational problems.
She said she welcomed the DSI’s request for 27 million baht to develop a system for mapping financial transactions and analysing money trails.
She speculated that the project would involve i2 software, comprising analysis and intelligence tools used by law enforcement agencies to uncover hidden patterns and complex connections, which the DSI had previously purchased about 10 years ago.
However, she said she was concerned about who would be at the helm of the DSI and whether the new DSI chief would ensure that the software would be used effectively to address the agency’s shortage of expertise. (Story continues below)
Airport encounter
Ms Rukchanok said she hoped the new chief would not be someone who had stood at Buri Ram airport to welcome a group of people who had been implicated by one of the two EC subcommittees that investigated the sprawling Senate collusion case.
She referred to the findings of the commission’s 26th inquiry panel, which recommended prosecution against 229 people, including 138 sitting senators and dozens more senior figures in the Bhumjaithai party.
A subsequent inquiry panel, the 36th, was formed to review those findings and decide whether to proceed with indictments. It voted in March this year to clear all 229 people named in the investigations.
When the seven-member EC meets on Sept 14, it will be deciding whether to accept or reject the findings of the 36th panel.
Ms Rukchanok pressed on, producing photographs of a group of people welcoming Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul at Buri Ram airport on March 1 this year. The faces in the photographs were blurred when they were shown on monitors in the House.
She then held up large and small printed versions of the same photographs, saying she did not intend to display them for any particular purpose but merely planned to put them in front of her computer.
Her remarks prompted repeated objections from Bhumjaithai MPs, who argued that she had strayed from the budget discussion and was referring to individuals outside the House.
Ms Rukchanok continued, saying that if the person in the photograph was Mr Anutin, he was an MP and could come to the House to explain who had stood and bowed to greet him.
Mr Anutin was not in the House on Wednesday as he was in Norway, representing His Majesty the King at the funeral of King Harald V.
DSI leadership
Ms Rukchanok then referred to Pol Lt Col Piya Raksakul, currently director-general of the Department of Probation, who has been widely tipped to become the next DSI director-general. He was also a member of the EC panel that recommended clearing all those accused of colluding in the Senate election.
Deputy Speaker Lertsak warned her against referring to individuals outside parliament and urged her to remain within the scope of the debate.
The tension escalated when Ms Rukchanok expressed concern that under a future DSI leadership, lower-ranking officials who did not ‘sell themselves or their souls’ to the ‘blue regime’ could face pressure or retaliation.
The remarks drew immediate protests from several Bhumjaithai MPs, who accused her of making speculative allegations and insulting DSI personnel.
Sanong Thepaksonnarong, a Bhumjaithai MP from Buri Ram, accused Ms Rukchanok of using disrespectful language that demeaned DSI officials. He said she had previously called for civility in parliamentary debate and thus should demonstrate the same standard herself.
In response, Ms Rukchanok exercised her right to defend herself against the objections, insisting she had maintained parliamentary decorum.
In a post on her X account later, Ms Rukchanok defended her actions, saying that the encounter at the Buri Ram airport had been widely reported earlier, as had the presence there of Pol Lt Col Piya.