A member of Thailand’s Palang Pracharath Party, Ronnathep Anuwat, was caught zooming in on a nude photo of a woman in parliament on 16 September and claimed that he thought the topless woman “needed his help”.
According to BBC Thai, a reporter caught the Chonburi representative zooming in and out of the image for at least 10 minutes. Ronnathep, however, said that he didn’t know who the girl was but claimed that she had sent for help followed by the nude.
He added that he was trying to figure out what her motives were during the session and immediately deleted the pictures when he discovered that she wanted money.
Ronnathep further explained that the reason he was zooming in and out over and over again was to see if she was being forced by any gangsters.
“I was observing the environment surrounding the girl in the picture to determine whether she was being harassed by some gangsters and forced to take this kind of picture or not,” he said, adding that he already explained everything to the party elders.
“I was warned to be careful, so I told my party that I didn’t understand her objectives because the initial messages sent weren’t this pic!” he said.
Ronnathep then claimed that he was being targeted by political rivals who wanted to discredit him and said that he was politically defamed as he had many political opponents.
Following the incident, Speaker Chuan Leekpai said today (17 September) that Ronnathep would not be punished as looking at inappropriate photos on his phone during parliament was a personal matter.
However, if a complaint were to be lodged, parliament could consider whether the MP had breached the code of ethics for parliamentarians, reported The Bangkok Post.
Also read: Datuk Hishammuddin Caught Vaping In The Parliament, Says It’s A New Habit & Apologises
