Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on Thursday brushed aside former National Reform Council (NRC) member and human rights activist Thicha Nanakorn's call for his resignation over his luxury watch scandal.
Gen Prawit, who is also defence minister, insisted he would not step down from his post until the National Anti-Corruption Commission's (NACC) probe found he was guilty.
"I have not been found guilty yet. Just wait for the NACC to say there are grounds," he said on Thursday.
Gen Prawit commented after Ms Thicha on Wednesday led a fresh call for the NACC to lift the lid on its long-delayed investigation into his luxury watch scandal.
She called on him to resign as he had pledged to do earlier and urged the NACC to speed up its probe into the 25 luxury watches with a combined value of over 39 million baht, which Gen Prawit has been documented wearing.
On Feb 16, Ms Thicha lodged a petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha with 80,018 signatures from a campaign on Change.org calling for Gen Prawit's resignation. She initiated the online petition on Jan 31 after Gen Prawit told the media that he was ready to resign if the people did not want him.
Since then, the deputy prime minister has been defiant, telling reporters that he has no intention of stepping down over the watch dispute.
On Thursday, Ms Thicha reminded the general of his Jan 31 promise. She also reprimanded Gen Prawit, saying she did not see good governance in his acts, ranging from his failure to declare all assets to his action on the death of cadet Pakapong Tanyakan at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School in October last year.
She said the petition indicated that people did not want Gen Prawit to remain in his post and that his insistence that he would wait for the NACC's findings was just a tactic to buy time
