Vorapak Tanyawong was hailed as a reliable and trusted financial guru by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul when he brought him in from the private sector to help run the economy as deputy finance minister.
Mr Vorapak had a good reputation and has worked in public office before, serving as an adviser to then-finance minister Pichai Chunhavajira in the Paetongtarn Shinawatra government.
So, he must have been aware of the potential pitfalls when Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas told reporters earlier this month his deputy would lead a task force to follow the money trail left by scam centres across Southeast Asia.
After an expose published this week by an investigative journalist revealed his links to just such people, Mr Anutin issued him with a call to explain. In response, Mr Vorapak on Wednesday resigned from the cabinet, while denying he had done anything wrong.
Tom Wright, an investigative journalist, on Tuesday published an article detailing how Mr Vorapak’s wife held shares in the same Singapore-based fund as “fixer” Benjamin Mauerberger’s wife.
In September, Wright posted on X that Mr Vorapak “became Thailand’s deputy finance minister, despite his role in a secret financial network that moved billions in dirty cash from Cambodia (known for casinos, scam centres, drugs) into the Thai and global financial system”.
Wright also wrote that “To more easily move illicit cash, this network secretly took over a Thai finance company and then offloaded it to crypto company KuCoin, all with Vorapak’s help. And yet he was made deputy finance minister last week!”
Mr Vorapak had admitted meeting Yim Leak, BIC Group president, to provide advice to establish a banking institute in Cambodia. Mr Yim was implicated by US Congress in September as being involved with financial scams, and so is Mr Mauerberger.
A photo of Mr Vorapak previously appeared on the website of BIC Group, identifying him as a board adviser. However, as of September, his photo had been removed from the site.
Mr Vorapak graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Management Science and Computer Systems from Oklahoma State University in the United States and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance from the University of Missouri.
He is recognised as an expert in leasing and has held several prominent positions, including with IBM Thailand, as managing director of Bank of America (Thailand Branch); managing director of Deutsche Bank (Thailand Branch); and CEO of JP Morgan (Thailand) Group of Banks and Securities Companies.
He was also executive vice president for Corporate Banking Group 1 at Siam Commercial Bank; CEO of Finansa Securities Ltd; CEO of Finansa Capital Ltd; and president and CEO of government-run Krungthai Bank from November 2012 to November 2016.