Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) questioned Taiyang Zhang, the husband of Bhumjaithai MP Suchada Thaensap, on Tuesday, October 20, over his past stake in Shuffle.com, an online gambling site registered in Curaçao. The couple arrived at the DSI’s Bangkok offices at about 8:30 a.m., and Zhang spent nearly two hours with investigators, according to several news sources. Suchada said she came only to accompany her husband and did not give a statement herself. The questioning is part of a DSI inquiry into whether the husband of a Chaiyaphum MP has links to online gambling and scam networks.
Suchada, who represents Chaiyaphum for the ruling Bhumjaithai Party, told reporters afterward that her husband had held a 1.47% stake in the company behind the site. She said he sold it before she was elected in February, which is why it didn’t appear in the asset declaration she filed as an MP. She has denied any wrongdoing, said the allegations were political, and rejected online claims that her husband had left the country. Zhang told reporters he was ready to answer questions from the DSI and any other agency, but he declined to say what he does for a living.
Justice Minister Rutthaphon Naowarat said Tuesday that the DSI opened the inquiry on its own initiative on October 8. A working group made up of the DSI, the Central Investigation Bureau, the Technology Crime Suppression Division and the Anti-Money Laundering Office met on October 19 and will meet again on October 26. The case is still at the evidence gathering stage, the minister said, and the DSI hasn’t decided whether to accept it as a special case. Investigators plan to call People’s Party MP Rangsiman Rome and former Democrat MP Sirichoke Sopha, who have both raised the allegations publicly, to give statements or submit more evidence. The inquiry has been registered as case number 148/2569.
The next test comes on Thursday, October 22. The House Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights, which Rangsiman chairs, has invited 18 people, including Suchada and her husband, to a hearing on claims that bribes were offered to stop action against online gambling websites. Reports have not confirmed whether the couple will attend. Suchada turned down an earlier invitation from the committee, saying it clashed with her work on another House panel.
Rangsiman has questioned why Suchada’s account has changed. At a meeting in Chaiyaphum on October 16, she reportedly put her husband’s stake at 1%, before giving the 1.47% figure on Tuesday. He has asked for documents showing when, how and to whom the shares were sold. He has also argued that if her husband still held the shares while she worked as secretary to the digital economy minister, it could raise questions about why no action was taken against the site while other gambling sites were targeted.
The case grew out of a House session in early October. Rangsiman was questioning Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob about Chaichanok’s claim that someone had offered him a 40 million baht bribe to ignore online scam networks. During that exchange, Rangsiman said the husband of an unnamed Bhumjaithai MP from Chaiyaphum was linked to an international scam network. Suchada denied the claim and filed a defamation complaint against him with police on October 2.
Before entering Parliament, Suchada worked as spokesperson and secretary to Chaichanok at the digital economy ministry. Her asset declaration to the National Anti-Corruption Commission lists about 1.97 billion baht in combined assets for her and her husband, most of it attributed to him. Activist Srisuwan Janya has asked the commission to examine that declaration. Gambling is illegal in Thailand, although the justice minister has said Shuffle.com itself falls outside Thai jurisdiction.
The timing adds pressure on the government. The opposition’s no-confidence motion targets 18 Bhumjaithai ministers, including the digital economy minister, and the debate is tentatively set for October 27 to 29, with a vote on October 30. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has called the allegations against Suchada’s husband a private matter.
For now, the case rests on records that investigators have yet to review. The DSI will need to check when the shares changed hands and whether the site had any activity in Thailand before it decides whether to take the case further. Thursday’s House hearing and the working group’s October 26 meeting should show whether Suchada’s account holds up, just days before her party’s ministers face Parliament in the censure debate.
