Sihanart said the AMLO had publicly announced the facts of the investigation to protect consumers’ rights including people who bought memberships at CAWOW branches that subsequently closed.

He said the AMLO Transaction Committee approved the seizure of money and properฌty in the case based on alleged moneylaundering activities.

In response to CAWOW founder and former chief executive Eric Levine’s lawsuit, Sihanart said he and the business’ many damaged parties would welcome Levine coming to Thailand so they could question him.

Levine claimed in a declaration that the Securities and Exchange Commission didn’t find any evidence of wrongdoings and the fact that the Department of Special Investigation dropped investigation request by AMLO as the proof of innocence.

But Sihanart said the investigation was being conducted in accordance with the antimoneylaundering laws, meaning it was not linked to another agency.

Levine last week filed the libel lawsuit at a Bangkok court through is legal representative in Thailand. He claimed the AMLO and Sihanart had damaged his reputation after Sihanart’s alleged he had engaged in improper payments and fund transfers concerning the business.

Levine said: “[Sihanart’s] remarks about my personal and professional affairs are false and groundless … I demand redress for his remarks that are damaging to me and my professional colฌleagues, and that he be made to withdraw his irresponsible and unsubstantiated statements.”

Levine said he and CAWOW had given full cooperation to authorities during the investigations which had cleared them of the AMLO’s allegations.

“I am the target of something that looks dangerously like a personal vendetta and I intend to use all legal means at my disposal to clear my name,” he said, adding that wellknown auditing firms had confirmed CAWOW’s accounts and transactions to be without irregularity.