“Senator Sunthorn” urges serious action on pyramid scheme, worried that angels will disappear quickly

Senator Sunthorn' asked the Prime Minister what are the measures to prevent pyramid schemes? He questioned whether 'Thewada' would escape or not. The Prime Minister sent 'Jiraporn' to answer, confirming that there will definitely be no exceptions, emphasizing that he has given orders behind the scenes. The Senate meeting chaired by General Kriangkrai Srirak, First Vice President of the Senate, considered the oral question agenda by Mr. Sunthorn Pruekpipat, Senator, who raised the question of whether we are serious about preventing businesses from deceiving the public from happening since 1982 until now, more than 40 years have passed, and they still deceive, catch them, escape, and get away with it all the time. He gave the example of Mae Chamoi share, which was considered the first case. At that time, I was a child and heard the news that Mae Chamoi was imprisoned for hundreds of thousands of years. It sounded very scary, but it turned out that she was actually imprisoned for only 11 years. In addition, the re are Charter share, Bliss share, Bangkok Noodle share, UFUN share, seminar course share, Shogun share, FOREX 3D, and now The Icon. Mr. Sunthorn said that these shares will change their behavior and turn to using celebrities and influencers to deceive people. In the case of the latest icon, there is the word angel. I don't know if it is an angel who steals money or what, or if it is Satan, a ghost. In the end, we don't know if the angel will escape again or not. "When it comes to the monks, they trick people into investing in carrot shares. Now we have to say, is it time to get serious? What should we do to prevent these things from happening? Don't just let them happen and then go after them," said Mr. Sunthorn. Mr. Sunthorn asked 2 questions: 1. In every case where government officials are involved, and people of high status are involved, how does the government handle this? Do angels really exist? And 2. What are the preventive measures before an incident occurs? Ms. Jiraporn Sindhuphrai, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office, was assigned by the Prime Minister to answer the question that the Prime Minister attaches great importance to this matter. He has given instructions to all relevant agencies to help expedite the resolution of the case that has occurred. 'The Royal Thai Police opened a complaint center since October 10th, allowing all police stations to come and file charges. We have mobilized all relevant agencies to help support the investigation with information as soon as possible,' said Ms. Jiraporn. Ms. Jiraporn emphasized that the Consumer Protection Board (CPB) has called a meeting on this matter, including reclaiming the award plaque from The Icon. There has been integration with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to seize assets. It can be seen that recently, 9,000 members of the public have filed a complaint, with damages worth over 2 billion baht, which meets the conditions for the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to proceed with, which is in accordance with the Special Investigation Act. From today onwards, the CPB will support the information as a witness. As for the matter of the Consumer Protection Board angel, Ms. Jiraporn said that this matter came from the release of an audio clip that claimed to have cleared things up with the victim, which was disclosed since October 10. She confirmed that she did not remain indifferent and was expediting an investigation into the facts of the case to see if this really happened, whether there was any misconduct or omission of duty. She submitted the matter to Mr. Prasert Chantarawongthong, the Deputy Prime Minister who oversees the matter, who has set up a committee to investigate the facts. 'The clip was released on October 10. On October 16, a fact-finding committee was set up. If you look at the timeline, it took less than a week to set up a committee to investigate the facts of this issue. According to the structure of this committee, you can see that it is made up entirely of outsiders. We did not let the insiders investigat e by themselves. We used outsiders involved in the justice process, especially criminal cases, to be in the structure. There were representatives from the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the DSI, and the Royal Thai Police to ensure the greatest transparency and fairness for all parties. During the 30-day time frame to investigate the facts, the committee immediately met,' said Ms. Jiraporn. Ms. Jiraporn continued that this committee has also set up two subcommittees: a fact-finding committee and a committee to study the problems and limitations of doing direct sales or direct selling businesses, which will look into the process of applying for licenses and various regulations. 'I must say that in terms of providing clarity to society about the angels, the Consumer Protection Board has now begun to investigate the facts. If it is found that there are any individuals who have violated the law, then full action will be taken without exception. Let the witnesses and evidence provid e answers on this issue,' said Ms. Jiraporn. Ms. Jiraporn emphasized the preventive measures to prevent future occurrences, saying that the government is very aware of this issue. The agency that she oversees is the Consumer Protection Board, which is the agency that holds the Direct Sales and Direct Marketing Act. She has ordered it to investigate and invite information, including ordering a review of the law to be proactive. However, as you know, the incident did not only involve the Consumer Protection Board. To review the relevant laws to be more effective, there must be cooperation with other agencies, such as the Ministry of Finance, the FDA, the Council of State, and the Royal Thai Police. 'I have ordered them to look behind the scenes and increase cooperation with other agencies to make it more efficient. The OCPB has a limited number of people, so introducing technology to increase the efficiency of its staff, especially in monitoring and evaluation, is important. In the past, the OCPB has received a relatively small budget for public relations,' said Ms. Jiraporn. Then, Mr. Sunthorn stood up and added that he would like to suggest 5 preventive measures: 1. Increasing the penalty, 2. Amending the statute of limitations, 3. Integrating management, expanding the framework of work in the form of a One Stop Alert, 4. Investigating people who show off their wealth abnormally, 5. Creating the right social trends from work, not an overnight dream. "These angels disappear quickly. If their heads don't shake, their tails won't wag. What's important is whether the government leaders are serious or not," said Mr. Sunthorn . Later, Ms. Jiraporn said that the case of The Icon, which has been complained about since 2018 but has not progressed, is because at that time there were still legal restrictions. But later, there was support for information, coordination with various agencies regarding One Stop Alert, and the government is serious about this matter. Source: Thai News Agency