Move Forward Party leader Pita Limcharoenrat says he has transferred ownership of all the 42,000 iTV shares that he inherited to other beneficiaries, and that the move is not an attempt to evade guilt but to prevent possible problems that could arise from opponents’ attempts to “restore” iTV’s status as a media company.

“I decided to seek the opinion of the heirs who entrusted me with to hold the iTV shares, which is an inheritance from my father, instead of other heirs. We jointly concluded that I should arrange to completely distribute the shares to other heirs, in order to prevent any problems from the current attempts to restore iTV's status as a mass media company,” he yesterday wrote in a Facebook post.

The shares, according to the party leader, are part of the legacy inherited from his father that he has been holding on behalf of other beneficiaries, adding that he had already declared the shares to the National Anti-Corruption Commission along with other assets and liabilities.

“In 2014, iTV common shares were delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which is the reason why further trading was impossible on the stock market,” he added.

Pita is confident that there is nothing to disqualify him from running in elections or serving as a Prime Ministerial candidate.

He pointed out his opponents’ attempt to “restore” iTV’s status as a media company is a political manoeuvre aiming to disqualify him as a prime ministerial candidate as the company ceased to operate in the media sector a long time ago.

iTV stopped broadcasting in 2007 after its license was revoked.  In 2014, the company was delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Palang Pracharath’s Ruangkrai Leekitwattana has submitted a petition to the Election Commission urging an investigation into Pita's ownership of the iTV shares. Ruangkrai, who was previously with the Pheu Thai Party, in 2007 submitted a petition that eventually disqualified then Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej after he was found guilty of accepting reimbursement of expenses for hosting a commercial TV show, ruling that this made him an employee, which is not allowed for Cabinet members.