EC’s job is to study funding of digital wallet scheme, flag discrepancies: Sawaeng
The Election Commission (EC) cannot ascertain the legality of the government’s digital wallet scheme or whether it aligns with its election promises, EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said on Saturday.
“The EC’s role is to find out how the scheme is funded and whether or not such action is within the scope of law,” he said.
He also pointed out that no government in the past had been able to fulfil every promise it had made to voters. Governments have historically executed promises in different ways, some diverging from their initial election commitments.
The EC’s primary concern is to evaluate the actions of the government against existing laws, he said.
Sawaeng’s comments followed reports that the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had said the government’s proposed funding source for its digital wallet scheme was different from what the Pheu Thai Party had pledged during the election last year.
The Pheu Thai-led government coalition initially proposed funding the extensive scheme, aimed at stimulating the economy, through a 500-billion-baht loan act. This contradicted its election promise, which assured that the scheme would utilise funds from taxes and state revenue, which was expected to rise under the party’s governance.
Originally scheduled to commence in January, the scheme, intending to distribute 10,000-baht digital money to eligible Thais for spending at local businesses to boost the economy, faced delays and was rescheduled for May due to various issues.
On Wednesday, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat admitted that the much-anticipated scheme cannot start in May as promised due to “several factors”.
Meanwhile, Sawaeng added that during last year’s general election, the EC recorded a total of 756 handout schemes promised during campaigns, much like the digital wallet scheme, worth an estimated 70 trillion baht.
