Bangkok, October 22nd, 2025- Deputy Finance Minister Vorapak Tanyawong announced his resignation today, denying allegations allegedly linking him to scam networks operating out of Cambodia.
Vorapak, a veteran banker with over three decades in finance, held the post for less than a month before stepping down. Appointed in September 2025 under Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai-led administration, he was tasked with overseeing financial reforms amid a national crackdown on “grey money” flows from illegal operations. However, reports from the investigative newsletter Whale Hunting, published by a group called Project Brazen, accused him of ties to Southeast Asian scam syndicates, including claims that his wife received $3 million in cryptocurrency from a Chinese-Cambodian criminal network.
In a press briefing in Bangkok this afternoon, Vorapak vehemently rejected the claims as a “smear campaign,” stating that his wife has no cryptocurrency holdings and that his professional engagements, including a prior stake in Thailand’s Finansia Syrus Securities, were transparent and unrelated to illegal activities. “Anyone who tries to use my name to suggest ties to scammers is not true,” he stated, vowing to pursue criminal defamation charges against the accusers. He also clarified that he proposed the resignation to Anutin himself to avoid burdening the government, insisting it was not forced.
Anutin, who had demanded a written explanation from Vorapak just a day earlier, accepted the resignation amid pledges of deeper U.S.-Thai cooperation on cybercrime. The prime minister, speaking to reporters, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to investigating all leads as part of a broader anti-scam initiative. This follows a surge in regional busts, with Thai authorities dismantling over 100 scam hubs this year alone, often run by Chinese and Cambodian operators preying on global victims.
Vorapak’s exit piles pressure on Anutin’s coalition, which assumed power in August after Thailand’s Constitutional Court dismissed prior PM Paetongtarn over an ethics breach in a border dispute with Cambodia. The Shinawatra dynasty’s Pheu Thai Party, once a dominant force, is now leaderless following Paetongtarn’s own resignation as party chief earlier today, coinciding with Vorapak’s announcement and signaling potential electoral shakeups ahead of a possible House dissolution by early 2026.
