Finance Minister Korn threatens to sue over Pheu Thai
Korn threatens to sue over Pheu Thai abuse-of-position claims
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij yesterday threatened to sue three Pheu Thai MPs if by tomorrow they had not retracted their “libellous” allegations that he abused his position to fly Thai Airways International first class on personal trips.
“The flights for which the Pheu Thai MPs claimed I used the privilege to upgrade tickets 14 times, I insist were business trips as finance minister and trips when I joined the prime minister, while my wife was sometimes invited and we were eligible for first-class tickets already,” Korn said.
The Pheu Thai MPs should have shown evidence to support their accusations, he said.
Pheu Thai MPs Anudit Nakornthap and Karun Hosakul as well as deputy party spokesman Jirayu Huangsap held a press conference at party headquarters to call on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and THAI to investigate the case.
Anudit said the party had received complaints that Korn took advantage of his privilege as a minister to upgrade THAI tickets for him and his family that were worth more than Bt3 million when he actually paid only Bt400,000.
The tickets were for 11 private trips to the United Kingdom, two to Bali and one to France, said Anudit, who chairs the party’s anti-graft committee.
Korn said he had never exploited privileges to seek upgrades. He and his family hold gold cards for Royal Orchid Plus, which can promote its members to higher classes.
He said that when he and his wife took personal trips, they sometimes redeemed their mileage rewards just like other members of the loyalty programme.
Reservations in case seats were available were normally offered by the airline, he said, adding that he had never taken any baggage exceeding the weight limit.
On Facebook, Korn also wrote that he always paid for tickets on private trips with his own money, and that his children always travelled to and from London in economy class.
Pheu Thai Party maintained that Korn’s children’s tickets were upgraded from economy class to business class, while Korn and his wife’s flights to London in March and April were upgraded from economy to first class. They took seven bags.
