Just a day after not answering the media questions about the sale of shares in ITV, Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Mover Forward Party and candidate to be Thailand’s next prime minister, revealed on June 6, he has recently transferred the shares, which he inherited from his late father, to another inheritor to prevent some people from reviving the TV station in order to disqualify him from becoming PM.
Before giving an interview at Pheu Thai Party, Pita posted on his Facebook: “I am ready to fight against the efforts to revive ITV and block us.”
He said that since March 7, 2007, the Office of the Permanent Secretary notified ITV Public Company Limited (ITV) of the termination of the contract and the Ultra High-Frequency (UHF) operating agreement, which led to the end of the joint agreement. As a result, ITV could no longer use the frequency for its operations and lost its status as a mass media.
“On March 16, 2007, the court assigned me the administrator of my father’s estate, with the ITV shares no longer having any economic value. In 2014, the ITV shares were delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, so they can no longer be traded on the stock exchange. Since becoming a Member of Parliament, I have disclosed my assets and liabilities to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and have been extremely transparent in this matter.
Recently, however, there have been attempts to revive ITV as a mass media platform to attack me. For example, controversial changes were made to ITV’s financial statement filing form by changing the previously stated description from “a holding company principally engaged in the non-financial business” to “television media” in 2022, even though the business cannot be operated. And most recently it was changed to “advertising media and returns from investments” in 2023.
During the shareholders’ meeting on April 26 2023, some shareholders asked a question: “Is ITV in the media business?” Do you in your fair mind believe that this question was asked with a political agenda? And please answer for yourself whether you think this is an attempt to revive ITV as a mass media platform, yes or no.
In view of various contentious issues that have arisen, I have taken the decision to seek a successor to inherit and manage the ITV shares to avoid problems arising from the process of reviving ITV as a mass media platform.
I wish to assure everyone that I am fully prepared to give clarity to the Election Commission (EC) on this matter without any misgivings or worries. I will not neglect my work. From now on, I will continue with the preparations for the transfer of power and the formation of the Move Forward government with Pita as the Prime Minister to ensure its successful implementation,” said Pita.
On the same day, Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a Palang Pracharath Party member who was the first to file a petition with the Election Commission (EC) demanding an investigation into Pita’s involvement in ITV, submitted additional information to the EC for the seventh time on the grounds that Pita had not answered questions about the sale of ITV shares.
Ruangkrai speculated that Pita may have transferred the shares to someone else after filing the complaint on May 10, 2023.
