Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai insisted Tuesday he will not resign from office, saying his wife had already reduced her shareholding in a private company.
The minister appeared unperturbed by mounting pressure on him to resign his portfolio over the controversy surrounding his wife's shareholding in a family company that was not declared in their joint statement of assets and liabilities when he took office.
The Election Commission (EC) ruled that his wife's holding of more than 5% of the shares was in contravention of the 2017 constitution and that he, as a consequence, might not be qualified to serve on the cabinet.
He took office before the constitution was promulgated on April 6 last year.
Peppered with reporters' questions, the smiling minister said if he had decided to quit he would not have been attending the weekly cabinet meeting. He would await the ruling by the Constitutional Court on the case against him filed by the EC, though.
Nevertheless, he said his wife had taken little notice of the shares since she inherited them from her father about 37 years ago.
Now she was aware of the problem she had already transferred some of the shares to their son and now held less than 5%.
"Any pressure people are talking about depends on their own interpretation. They may interpret it as pressure, or a matter of concern, or anything. That's up to them," he said.
"As for me, the answer is on my face. I assure you that I am not under pressure and will carry on with my work as usual. My wife has already cleared her shareholdings, which she inherited from her father 37 years ago," the minister said.
"As the law prohibits a cabinet minister or spouse from holding shares exceeding 5%, those involved must follow it,'' the minister said. However, he did not elaborate on the issue. Throughout the press questioning the minister kept smiling and gave a thumbs-up to show he was not worried.
Isra news agency reported on Sunday that Mr Don's wife Narirat transferred some shares in two firms to their son Puen Pramudwinai on Oct 9 last year, two years after Mr Don took office on Aug 19, 2015.
The shareholding issue was raised by Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a legal adviser to the Pheu Thai Party, who filed a petition last year demanding an investigation into the shareholdings of nine cabinet ministers. The EC looked into the cases and cleared eight of the ministers. It voted 3:2 against clearing Mr Don after learning that his wife did not disclose her 5% shareholding in a family firm.
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