Pheu Thai MP for Nong Khai Pongpan Sunthornchai has admitted to viewing photos of barely-dressed women on his iPad during a parliamentary debate, but claimed he accidentally clicked on a link that downloaded the images.
PARLIAMENT PORN: Pheu Thai MP Pongpan Sunthornchai is photographed browsing lewd pictures on his iPad during Friday’s parliamentary debate on the Budget Bill.
Mr Pongpan yesterday said that while he was the politician caught by a photographer viewing inappropriate pictures during the debate, he had no intention to view them.
While parliament was deliberating on the Commerce Ministry's transport costs of rice on Friday, Mr Pongpan said he was searching for information regarding the issue on his iPad. As he was not familiar with the new device, he said, he accidentally clicked a link featuring fashion photos. Racy pictures automatically popped up on the screen, he said.
He said that what appeared on his iPad were not pornographic pictures, but pictures of women in swimming suits.
The government MP added that he was afraid of using this technology again and wanted to return his iPad to parliament, which recently handed out iPads to all MPs. Mr Pongpan said he wanted to apologise for the incident.
On Democrat MP Boonyod Sooktinthai's move to raise this issue for a House debate, the Pheu Thai MP said he had already explained the matter to Mr Boonyod, who later agreed not to bring the issue to the House panel.
If the issue is raised by the House committee, Mr Pongpan said he would be ready to explain the incident.
Mr Pongpan denied allegations of having parliament police intimidate the photographer who incriminated him during the debate.
He said that while he met the photographer during the course of Friday's lengthy debate, he had only requested the photographer not to show pictures of him sleeping during breaks for the sake of parliament's image.
He said he was not aware that the photographer had seen the raunchy pictures appear on his iPad.