Bhumjaithai MP faces questions over finances - Bangkok Post

People’s Party MP Rangsiman Rome speaks during a parliament meeting on April 23. (Bangkok Post file photo) People’s Party MP Rangsiman Rome will invite Bhumjaithai MP Suchada Zhang Thaensap and her husband to clarify cryptocurrency and financial transactions on Oct 7.

Mr Rangsiman, chairman of the House committee on legal affairs, justice and human rights, said on Friday that representatives from the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and National Anti-Corruption Commission would also be invited to the meeting.

The committee wants to look at the flow of funds, investment activities and sources of income after Mr Rangsiman raised allegations in Parliament concerning Ms Suchada’s husband, Zhang Taiyang, an Australian citizen of Chinese descent.

The issue emerged during Thursday’s House session, when Mr Rangsiman questioned Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob about an alleged 40-million-baht bribe offer.

He referred to a female Bhumjaithai MP from Chaiyaphum whose husband was allegedly linked to an international scam network.

Ms Suchada, the only female Bhumjaithai MP for Chaiyaphum, objected, demanding evidence and saying the remarks had damaged her reputation. Mr Rangsiman stood by his remarks and said evidence would be provided later.

Mr Rangsiman said on Friday that the committee had not reached any conclusion and maintained the presumption of innocence. The investigation would first establish financial links before determining whether there were grounds for legal or political action.

Scrutiny first arose over Ms Suchada’s asset disclosures to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), showing roughly 1.85 billion baht in her husband’s name.

The largest asset declared was a 1.4-billion-baht loan made in 2021 to the now-bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).

Opposition politicians and analysts have questioned the origins of these large sums and possible links to distressed or fraudulent crypto networks, prompting legal pushback and defamation lawsuits from Ms Suchada.

Mr Rangsiman said people linked to the Three Arrows case had been arrested or prosecuted in Singapore and the United States, and that some statements had linked them to Mr Zhang.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the Bhumjaithai party leader, on Friday declined to comment when asked about the allegations.

Mr Zhang was a co-founder of Ren Protocol (originally Republic Protocol), a decentralised platform that lets users move digital assets across different blockchains.

He sold the corporate entities behind Ren Protocol in 2021 to Alameda Research, a company led by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who linked the cross-chain project directly to his FTX ecosystem.

FTX collapsed in late 2022, which led to Bankman-Fried being jailed for fraud.