Six more women are expected to accuse a former Democrat Party leader of sexual violence today as a series of leaked messages portray him as unrepentant predator.
After Prinn Panitchpakdi was indicted yesterday on charges of sexual harassment and rape, the lawyer for one of his accusers last night released an audio recording said to be of his client confronting the 44-year-old son of a former deputy prime minister.
“But I was violated like other women. That 18-year-old woman didn’t lie. We met on the rooftop. You hugged me and pecked my cheek in the lift. We really met in the room where they exposed you,” the woman’s voice can be heard saying, referencing the location of multiple alleged assaults. “Why don’t you feel guilty at all?”
A man’s voice said to be Prinn insists he did nothing and that the charges against him were all part of an orchestrated campaign.
Prinn, who withdrew Thursday from his campaign for Bangkok City Council and stepped down from the Democrat Party, was freed on bail but ordered by the Bangkok South Criminal Court not to leave the country or tamper with witnesses.
So far he has been charged with two counts of sexual harrassment and one of rape. He has denied all charges, but the authorities said they expect six women to file similar charges today.
Over the weekend, a series of Facebook chat messages appeared to show Prinn propositioning an unidentified 17-year-old girl for a date after he made a do-you-know-who-my-daddy-is introduction. The messages could not be independently verified.
A phone number listed for Prinn was disconnected today, and messages seeking comment went unreturned.
One of the three accusers who have come forward is Haithairat “Anna” Vidhyaphum, the wife of pro-democracy activist Tanat “Hi-So Luk Nat” Thanakitamnuay. In a public accusation which went viral and became a national scandal, she accused Prinn on Thursday assaulting her in a Sukhumvit Road apartment in March 2021.
She said she met Prinn, a former stock exchange governor and head of an international securities firm, for help on economic matters, but he instead inappropriately touched and kissed her hands and cheeks.
Anna, who was also running for city council, withdrew from the race Saturday to show that her accusations were not politically motivated.
Following she went public, four women filed complaints against Prinn, including a 43-year-old woman who said he harassed her at a resort in November 2020 at a dinner attended by the Democrat Party’s economic team.
It seems unlikely that the allegations could have surprised those familiar with Prinn, given a history of similar charges stretching back two decades to London, according to media reports.
British daily The Times reported that in April 2003, Prinn, then 25, appeared in court where he was accused of “raping a woman, 18, at his riverside flat in West London, and at another address in Westminster.” It said he was also accused of raping and falsely imprisoning a 27-year-old woman in November 2002.
It said he ran a London restaurant at the time and was granted bail. Though a trial was expected to begin that September, no further information could be found about the case.
Prinn did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Prinn joined the Democrats in 2019. His father, Supachai Panitchpakdi, headed the World Trade Organization from 2002 to 2005, and was deputy prime minister from 1997 to 2000 under the administration of former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai.
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