Kerryd

Gathered his belongings - but left his passport behind. Uh huh. And apparently dumped the gun (and extra ammo) somewhere it could easily be found. This sounds like and episode of "America's Dumbest Criminals" (not a real show though maybe it shoud be). You know, like the bank robber who wrote a stick-up note on the back of one of his own cheques and then handed it to the cashier. Not hard to suspect that he was "staying with a friend" or at "the girlfriend's place" because he didn't want his name on a rental agreement (and being reported to Immigration). Hopefully the media follows up on the story because I suspect there's more going on than reported on so far.

Everyone can relax - no police officers were disturbed by this incident that happened 4 blocks from the police station. I'm guessing a dispute with a food vendor, perhaps over non-payment for food eaten by the customers ? That would explain the ladles (and ladies in food vendor outfits) and a few locals trying to help out those ladies.

In Jomtien you can do your 90 day report up to 1 week before or 1 week after the due date. They do not automatically reset it when you renew a visa or apply for an extension of stay for an existing visa. I'd messed up a couple years ago and had the same issue. Did my 90 day. 2 weeks later applied for a new extension. 10 weeks later did another 90 day. Had to go back 2 weeks later to do the bank book check. Now I arrange my 90 day reports so that one is due the day after I apply for an extension. That way, when I go back to Immigration to get my passport, I can do the 90 day report at the same time and then, because I have to go back again in 90 days for the "bank book check" I can do the next 90 day report at the same time. Then I look at the calendar and work out when to do my next two 90 day reports so that the 4th one comes due at the same time I have to do my next extension application. Also remember that if you go out of the country for any reason, it resets the "90 day clock", which restarts when you come back into the country.

If you read the article (especially the Khaosod one) you will learn that that woman (Supawadee Thongnoi) was a former teacher at a language school. They do not say which one. Most of the people apparently approached her about getting ED visas (or perhaps extensions of existing Visas). Some thought they'd actually paid for a language course but when they showed up at the school, the school had no record of them (which lead to the discovery that Supawadee was running a scam). A lot of people use agents because a) they are just too lazy to spend one hour once a year to do it themselves (seriously), b) they simply can't be bothered to do the paperwork themselves even though all of it has English script and/or c) they need "help" because they wouldn't meet the requirements themselves (or don't want to risk being seen - you know what I mean). As well, a lot of people with "ED" visas need a little extra "help" as they probably never attended a single class the entire time they've been in the country. (Remember a couple years ago, before "covid", when they did a big crackdown on a lot of Language schools as they found out most of their "students" had never gone to any classes.) I used an agent when I got my first Non-O and my first Extension. I was working (overseas) and didn't know the paperwork and was basically just too busy having a good time (and money wasn't an issue) so using an agent was the easiest option. But then I looked at the paperwork and saw how easy it was to do, so when I needed to apply for another Extension, I did it myself. A couple hiccups with not having photocopied all the things needed and not signing all the photocopies but still not a big problem. Made a little list of everything, went home and got most of the paperwork and photocopies for the next year sorted out. Next time (and every time after that for the last what, 15 years now ?) was super easy. I think it takes about 4-6 minutes with the IO clerk once your number is called. 1,900 baht for the application. I've often arrived at Jomtien, queued up, got my number, processed my application and been on the scooter heading home in an hour. (I organize things so that when I go back the next day to get my passport I also do my 90 Day report and, if needed, a multi re-entry permit.) So, about an hour and a half of my time over 2 days and 1900 baht (if I don't need the re-entry permit) in order to be able to stay here another year. Never had ANY problem with "nasty" or "irate" or "mean" IOs. Then again, I shower and wear clean clothes before I go and address them politely when I'm there. Unlike some people. Too many in fact. I seriously can't understand the difficulty of having a shower and wearing clean clothes before going to Immigration. I've encountered people there that absolutely reek ! Like they've spent the last week drinking, puking and sleeping in their clothes and then show up at Immigration and expect to be treated like some foreign Prince. But as we know, there are a lot of people out there that have to use agents despite all their claims about how super rich they are, because the truth is, a lot of them are no where near as wealthy as they claim to be. So they have to shell out for an agent so they can avoid scrutiny of their finances lest the truth be told.

This scheme was already approved ages ago. It is the WHOLE reason they were (supposedly) adding yet another "arrival tax" on tourists. What is it up to now, an extra 300 or 500 baht tax per arrival ? This started because Anutin whined that hospitals were being stuck with unpaid bills from tourists who were treated and then snuck out of the country without paying. He claimed the hospitals had lost close to 300 million baht the previous year because of that. As there was nearly 40 million "arrivals" that same year, a 10 baht "tax" would have been more than enough to cover the money lost. But instead, they decided it should be 300 baht. 30 times what was needed. And NO mention of any of it going towards "medical insurance". Makes you wonder where all that money was going to go. You can bet they are going to keep that tax under the table and come up with a new scheme to charge tourists an extra fee for "medical coverage". Maybe they SHOULD be looking at stopping the double pricing at hospitals for starters. There was a news story a week or so ago about a Thai woman that had been working in (Sweden ?) that complained because she thought her hospital bill (in Thailand) was too high. The hospital admitted it had overcharged her because they thought she was a "foreigner". Gee, just the thing tourists want to hear when choosing a holiday destination. That they will be charged considerably more (than a local) if they go to a hospital, they will pay 5-20 times the "local" price of admission at various Parks and attractions, they will have to pay an additional tax on their tickets and maybe (probably) have to pay for medical coverage when they arrive as well. Thai business school teaching at it's best. If you are losing customers - increase the price of everything to make up the lost revenue. If you start losing more customers - raise prices even more !

When discussing this issue (trans/non-binary) one has to keep some facts in mind. For example, Stats Can noted in the 2021 Census that of ALL Canadians aged 15 and above, only 0.36 % "identified" as "trans" or "non-binary. At the same time I'd been looking for actual numbers, I came across a 2021 American study from the Williams Insititute (part of the University of California) that claimed only about 0.11% of Americans identified as trans/non-binary. That's it. Barely a tenth of 1% of the US population (or 1/3rd of a percent in Canada). Now consider how many fewer people would be in something like the military. And keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of "trans" or "non-binary" are men identifying as women. (Especially in sports. How many times have you heard of a woman deciding to identify as a man and entering competitions against other (real) men ? Lets see, doing the math now. 0 plus 0, times 0, carry the 0 and subtract 0 equals - zero !) The entire Canadian Forces has been shrunk (by different Liberal gov'ts) from 120,000 in the 70s to 60,000 in the 90s and with Trudeau's budget cuts, will no doubt get even smaller in the near future. I lived through some of that down-sizing in the 90s. So think about it. A military of 60,000(ish) people. One percent would be 600 and a third of that would be maybe 200 but probably way less as I seriously doubt there are a lot of people identifying as trans/non-binary in the military. So all this fuss about MAYBE 200 people scattered across scores of bases (and ships) across the country. In reality they are probably looking at less than 50 people in total. And if there are any, you can bet the vast majority of them would be MEN "identifying as women". Not the other way around. So the reality is, they are doing all this for maybe ONE person.

Same here. I was astounded the last couple times I left Canada and never had my passport checked. Checked in for the flight, went through the normal Security screen and - I was in the Departure Lounge and heading for my gate. NO Immigration counter - for anyone !!! I'm sure they did that so they can look down and away and pretend not to notice when "certain" people leave the country. You can literally check in for a flight, get your boarding pass, go to a bathroom or coffee shop and hand off your passport and boarding pass to someone else and then that person can walk through security and get on a plane and no one will be the wiser. (For example, it's a Indictable Offense to leave the country to join a terrorist organization. But if no one knows you've left the country or where you are going, they can't do anything about it !)

From the 2nd paragraph of the original post: " for illegally using the passport of Mr. Gjini to enter Thailand on a tourist visa" Not too mention (from the first paragraph): "wanted there (Australia) for a string of drug and firearm charges". So it seems he was doing a runner, travelled on a stolen passport, the Australian police no doubt found which flight/destination that passport went to and notified the Thai police. Pretty standard stuff. And entering the country illegally is more than enough for the Thai police to arrest and deport you back to wherever you came from. Not sure why anyone would think otherwise.

From the article: "Deutsche Welle’s documentary, titled ‘Sex Tourism in Thailand,’ faced criticism for presenting evidence of paedophilia crimes, despite official statements denying the existence of child prostitution in Pattaya’s sprawling red-light district." So they want to investigate the media outlet for presenting evidence of something the officials have denied exists. And their main concern is not about the child prostitution or the police bribery - but their image and reputation. One has to remember something very important though. In Thai law, you can be released on bail to fight criminal charges against you, even if you are charged with serious crimes. There have been numerous cases of people being released from prison on bail because they'd been charged with another crime. (The former "godfather of Chon Buri" was a prime example. He'd been sent to prison after being convicted of plotting the murder of a business rival but was released on bail after being charged in a land fraud case and promptly did a runner.) What some people think is a "bribe" is actually the bail money that has to be paid so they can be released. Whether through ignorance (likely) or poor translation (possibly), people might think it's a bribe. A GoFundMe scam I busted a couple years ago was like that. A story in a Canadian media outlet told about a Canadian who'd flown to Thailand and been "kidnapped by men dressed as police officers who took him to a "basement" somewhere and demanded a ransom to let him go". And, of course, the story was from "friends" who'd already set up a GoFundMe (and needed a media outlet to publicize it). Turns out, the guy had flown to Thailand and - 3 days later - was arrested in Bangkok for selling drugs to an undercover cop ! He was arrested in an area noted for "African" drug dealers. He'd been taken to a police station and charged and told how much his BAIL was. Supposedly he phoned his friends back home and told them he'd been "kidnapped" and needed a whopping $5,000 for the "ransom" (about 130,000 baht at the time). (Who goes to Thailand and starts selling drugs on a street corner 2-3 days later ?) I informed the reporter at the media outlet who initially refused to believe that the guy was a criminal. (I guess that wouldn't have sold as many newspapers.) A couple months later I sent her a news clipping about the guy being released from jail and deported. Apparently she tried to contact his "friends" that had initially told her the story but they wouldn't answer her calls for some reason. So maybe the German paid a million baht BAIL to be released from jail, not a "bribe". But after getting back to Germany told the media it was a "bribe" (either because of his own ignorance or poor translation).

Yet the Thai people just don't seem to care all that much. No one I talk to seems to give a toss one way or another, which is why the gov't gets away with stuff like this.

In many villages you pay a monthly fee, part of which goes to pay for garbage collection. In the "village" (housing development) I'm in, there are signs posted that if you don't pay the fee, your garbage won't get collected and on the days the garbage truck comes, the security guy escorts it around to make sure they skip any homes that haven't paid their fees. So the Italian guy was probably dumping his garbage in his neighbour's bin, which probably didn't smell any worse than it normally would have but was an excuse for a confrontation. And supposedly the Thai man's son was in jail after a previous altercation - about the Italian man disposing of his garbage in front of his neighbour's house. The Thai man said it was he who had punched the Italian but in court the Italian had produced a "drunken witness" that pointed at his son as the assailant and that is why the son was in jail. You'd have to be really, really broke to not be able to pay your water bill. Sheesh, mine is rarely more than 75 baht a month and I use a fair amount of water everyday ! But I guess for some people, 75 baht a month would mean going without a couple beer and what the heck, it'll rain sooner or later and fill up the buckets !

I smell bull piled to the ceiling. First off - it's a story from the MIRROR - a "media" site well known for buying and embellishing stories. 2nd - you don't "suddenly" catch leukemia. Like most cancers, it's a slow onset and you KNOW long beforehand that you've got it. You don't go on holiday and suddenly wake up one morning with full blown leukemia. For example, my dad died from Stage 4 lung cancer - 2 years after first being diagnosed. He ended up in the (gov't) hospital a couple times for a couple days at a time towards the end but nowhere near the expense claimed in this story. And no "blood stained" sheets and other exaggerations. And yeah - GOV'T hospitals are usually "open" wards, sometimes with a curtain to separate the beds from one another. You can pay extra for a private room - or go to a private hospital. It is possible that he KNEW he had it before going on holiday and maybe (if the story is actually true which is debatable) that's why he didn't have travel insurance. If he was that far gone before he left, he'd have never passed a medical exam. 3rd - Note the story already had a GoFundMe set up BEFORE the story was published. The WHOLE purpose of the "story" is to generate publicity for the GoFundMe. It's literally the red flag in almost all of these kinds of stories. They need to get the story out to as many people as possible and hope enough people are conned into believing it to meet their target. 4th - the GoFundMe is set up "by a friend". It's always "a friend". 5th - It's in Phuket. 95% of these scam stories supposedly are in Phuket for some weird reason. Almost never in Pattaya, rarely in Bangkok and pretty much never in Isaan or northern Thailand. Like the story of the Canadian woman who supposedly had a motorcycle accident - in Phuket - and her "friend" (according to the story in - the Mirror) set up a GoFundMe to fly to Thailand to help her and bring her home. Except I checked. There was no record of any foreign woman having a motorcycle accident anywhere around that time. And the "friend" posted ONE "generic" photo of a woman on a hospital bed with nothing in the pic that could identify where it was from. And her Facebook had NO photos of her "friend" (except the one for the story) - but she did post photos of her trip to Phuket so all her followers would know she was having a good time. Odd that she didn't post any other photos for the friend she'd flown all the way to Thailand to help. There have been numerous other scam GoFundMe's as well and they all have the same traits - like lack of specific dates and locations. Usually they'll say stuff like "last Summer" or "in the Fall". Or they got sick eating "at a restaurant in Phuket" and stayed "at a hotel". Rarely do they ever use specific details - because people might be able to check them. And by the way - I've had to go to private hospitals for major operations twice. Once, at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, to repair a torn rotator cuff and remove a bone spur in my shoulder. Total bill (total - including 3 days in the hospital) was 300,000 baht. (Insurance paid half - not sure why they didn't cover the whole amount.) After a motorcycle accident, I was in the Phaya Thai hospital in Sri Racha. Had to have major surgery on one wrist and one foot. 270,000 baht total (including 3 days in the hospital). My different policies covered 200,000 and I paid the remainder. And those were private hospitals, not the much cheaper gov't ones. But it doesn't matter. Apparently his "friend" has already exceeded the goal he set so he's home free.

There's more to the story that isn't being told. Zero chance that a fight broke out between the girls because they were "jealous" (with each other or the woman he was with). According to an "eye witness" in the club - "told the media that it appeared that Mr Fitzmaurice was much sought after by many of the young women in the club. ‘I think there was a lot of jealousy going on over who was getting which punter." Highly unlikely as he supposedly was already with someone. Unless he took her to a go-go and then started hitting on a bunch of the girls there. In years past I spent far too much time in go-gos and saw a lot of inter-actions between "dancers" and customers and the only time the girls get upset (normally) is when someone barfines one of them for a day or two and then goes back to the same bar and ignores that girl and starts flirting with another one. It's an age-old "pro-tip" that if you b/f a girl from a bar/go-go and want to change (the next day or whenever) - got to a different bar. Otherwise, the girl you b/f'd the night/day/hour before will think the other girls are trying to steal "her" customer. After a couple days, you can go back to the previous one. Then the girls will see you as just another "butterfly" and not as a potential "long term sponsor".

Sigh. Apparently he never paid the taxes on the money the resort he (and his partner) owned. "In 2019, Stig forged the signature of his British business partner and transferred all his shares in their jointly owned company to his Thai wife whom he had married in 2013. Stig also signed over his own shares to her. The purpose of signing over all their shares to Stig’s wife was for the company to be able to obtain a loan. After the transaction, Stig’s Thai wife owned 75 percent of the company with the remaining 25 percent owned by a handful of Thai minority shareholders. The company needed the loan, because the company had for years not paid taxes and VAT correctly, and the accumulated debt was 1,5 mill. THB which the Revenue Department wanted paid back in one amount." "The British partner then in the same year 2020 filed a criminal lawsuit against the Dane and his Thai wife for falsifying his signature. He denied that he had ever agreed to this. Now he had lost his company and the main assets of the company and he claimed 34 mill. THB in damages. When the case came before the court in Koh Samui, the Dane failed to provide his lawyer with all the evidence he had in his possession that the transfer of shares was by mutual consent." It sounds like this guy never paid the taxes on the money the resort made. His partner (a Brit) refused to help out with the 1.5 mil debt so the Dane forged his signature to cut him out of the company. The Brit says he never agreed to it. The Dane says he has evidence that the Brit agreed to it. Evidence he "somehow" forgot to give his lawyer at the original trial. The Dane had also overstayed his visa.

I highly doubt that vessel could hold 150 passengers and judging by it's state, it's been abandoned a lot longer than 3 months. It's been stripped of it's upper decking, wheelhouse, whatever canopy was used to shade the rear portion of the upper deck as well as anything else of value from the looks of it. Probably sprang an "expensive" leak, was stripped of anything of value and left to sink. Navy can tow it a kilometer off shore and hasten it's sinking. Not worth making a "dive site" or "artificial reef" out of it.

The Chinese police would NOT be "protecting tourists" or "easing fears" or any other such nonsense. Their entire purpose would be to spy on their nationals and report their activities back to Beijing. Who is doing what, where, why and with who. And it's not about criminals. It's about watching if certain individuals are trying to move money out of China, or making connections with people that the Communist Party might consider a threat, or "making noises" about "freedom" and such. Here's a clue. Tiananmen Square happened in 1989. 34 years ago Less than a year ago someone reported a baker in Hong Kong that made a "Tiananmen Square" birthday cake. He was arrested ! In another case from June 2022 - just before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre : "Li Jiaqi, a household name in China whose shows regularly draw millions of viewers, had his broadcast abruptly cut on Friday when he appeared to present an ice-cream cake with chocolate decorations that looked like a tank, hours before the anniversary began. He has posted nothing since that show, and some search results for his name were being censored. He failed to appear for a scheduled show on Sunday." This post is probably being flagged right now for using "Tiananmen Square". Why ? Because AseanNow is (now) based out of Hong Kong and Chinese cyber laws dictate that they have full access over all Chinese (including Hong Kong) media outlets. The Chinese closed down the last "free press" media site in Hong Kong a few years ago so now, every media site (based in Hong Kong) can be monitored by them and the content restricted if they so choose. And it was reported (in some Western countries like Canada) that the police there had discovered the Chinese had set up their own "Police Stations" to monitor (and spy) on Chinese people in those countries. Without telling the host country of course. And the timing of this news is interesting, considering it comes not long after a certain criminal returned to Thailand and is (allegedly) running the country now from the shadows.

I see it time and time again. People pull up to a U-turn, they SEE traffic coming but instead of waiting 3-5 seconds for it to pass, they will instead pull out in front of it. So bluudy often. I look in my mirrors and there's no one behind me for 500+ meters, but the person at the U-turn decides to cut in front of me and force me to go wide, rather than have to wait a few seconds. My friends know it happens a lot as well and will signal (lights/horn) if they see someone at a U-turn ahead, because they KNOW there's a good chance that person will try to turn even though we are clearly visible. Very often we have to veer to the far left of the left lane because someone has decided to just start turning in front of us. And all because (normally) they just don't want to wait that couple extra seconds for you to go past.

Years ago the bars had a closing time of 2am. They kept pushing it and many didn't close until 3. Some pushed it to 3:30 because the BiB were turning a blind eye to it. Many of my friends were bar/restaurant owners on Walking St. We'd close out their places, then sit on the street near a "drink cart" and watch the fun wind down until the sky started getting light and then go home. But then the military cracked down on things and everyone went back to a 2 am closing. But it used to be even worse (or better) back in the 90s. At one point, bars had to close between 6am-10am. But in reality all they had to do was turn off the music (and turn on the lights). Customers were allowed to stay to "finish their last drink" which really meant they could just keep on drinking and the staff would simply put their bin-cups below the counter-top. I remember leaving bars at 11-12pm and then in the morning jogging past them around 7am and the same staff, and often the same customers, were still there. And like before, it will take (weeks ? days ? hours ?) before some bars start pushing the line and as soon as they do, others will follow for fear of losing business. It won't take them long until they are serving (discreetly at first) until 4am. Just depends on how enthusiastic the BiB are on enforcing the rules. (Pretty sure we already know the answer to that. I mean if they can walk down Walking Street and then authoritatively declare that they found no evidence of prostitution then you can be sure they will be able to walk past 40 bars full of customers at 3:30 am and and state that none of them were breaking the rules.

Few years back a lot of shops like Big C and Foodland used to have promotions where they'd give stamps with purchases as well. I have a nice set of ViVo pots and frying pans from one promotion at Foodland and a set of double-walled glasses from Big C I got for "100 baht plus (a certain number of stamps)" promotions. Loved those promotions as I was shopping there anyways and the items they were offering were better quality than what they were selling. Like those ViVo pots and pans. I've got cases (literally) of "Fisherman's Friend" drink glasses from Tops market when they did a promotion where you got a free glass with the purchase of a single package of Fishermans's Friend lozenges. I'm glad they stopped that promotion as I was running out of room on the shelf to store them (seriously, I ended up 40 glasses). Got another 4 "Bangkok Bank" glasses from some other promotion). Had half a dozen plastic "laundry baskets" as well. Gave most of them away. And from 7-11 "sticker" promotions in the past, I got a "Winny the Pooh" waste-basket with lid as well as the Doremon stuff in the photo. One day I'll find a nice woman to settle down with and give all that to her kids. Or just leave them outside the house one day and let nature take it's course. And I wasn't buying all that much stuff really. Snacks and sodas mostly, maybe once a week or so. But the stickers add up over time. I see cashiers offer them to people (or people leave them on the counter) and they collect them, probably to give to a friend or relative.

Kind of surprised if he is the actual leader of the Outlaws. More likely the Chapter President of the Bangkok Chapter. Most of the foreign outlaw MCs like the Bandidos, HA and others have foreigner leaders, though some local chapters may have Thai Presidents. (Basically you have a number of local chapters which can have 5-8(+) full-patch members who fill the President, VP, Sergeant-at-Arms, Treasurer and Secretary positions, as well as a number of prospects and "hangers-on" or "support clubs". You also have a "national council" and President that co-ordinates the activities of the local chapters (and international business). A few years ago the Outlaws were making the news after being involved in certain "incidents" in different parts of the country. They even made their presence known at one of the Burapa Bike Weeks when a large group of them stood outside of the Bandido tent and stared them down. (Basically challenging them to "do something" but nothing happened of course.) And it was just last July when they busted the "leader" of the Pattaya Chapter of the Outlaws after the murder of that German property flipper. They said he was Austrian though someone else said Australian. However, 4 of the 5 others they busted were German (as was the victim), so I'd suspect he probably was Austrian. I think it was last year the cops in Pattaya busted an online gambling Op. They showed a photo that looked like a couple folding tables and chairs and racks on the wall full of smart phones. Like 6 rows of 15 phones (or thereabouts). Those guys also had wads of cash and a bunch of luxury cars on the premises. (No mention of gang affiliation though.) As for legalizing casinos - one of the biggest advantages of them is - they allow criminals to quickly and easily launder vast amounts of money. You walk in, buy a million $ worth of chips and walk out minutes later with $800,000 in "winnings" free and clear. ("Winning percentages" will vary from place to place of course.) And now with crypto currencies (a criminal's best friend) that money can be anywhere in the world in minutes. (Or, if the casino is owned by Trump and in danger of being foreclosed by the banks for failure to pay the mortgage payments, your daddy can send a trusted associate to buy $3 million worth of chips and then walk out without making a single bet (and "forgetting" his chips as well). Instant $6 mil profit. $3 mil straight into the bank and $3 mil in chips that can be sold again.) Imagine how much money they could launder in a place where the authorities are even more "user friendly" than in most Western countries ! (The biggest hold-up to legalizing casinos is probably the infighting over who will "control" them to make sure they are doing things "properly".)

Their Chinese masters have spoken and so it shall be done. Once the locals are destitute and homeless, the country will be ripe for a Cambodian (or Myanmar) style gov't to take over permanent control of the country. A gov't that the Chinese will control as they work to exert their influence on every country in the region they don't already control by proxy.

And yes - the market is usually busy. I've gone a number of times around 6am and it was already getting busy and half the vendors hadn't even set their stalls up yet. I generally wear flip flops and roll my pant legs up when I go there. Unless you want to smell like fish and attract cats for a week (until the smell on your shoes fades).

Not "hemp" but CBD. So drugs. Which are still illegal in many places. Like Russia, China, America and most of the Middle East.

He was originally taken to the hospital after spending less than a day (probably in a VIP private cell) in prison, complaining of "insomnia". That's it. Insomnia. I guess the bed in the special cell wasn't up to the standards he was used to. So he gets taken to a luxury VIP hospital suite so he can have a nice nap. And then they have to concoct excuses to keep him there. And when photos come out of him having fun in a swimming pool with his grandkids - they have to come up with a photo of him on a stretcher "looking sickly" to try and convince people that he should be allowed to stay in his VIP hospital suite. And it's blatantly obvious to everyone. I'm sure they are working on giving him a full pardon "for health reasons" within a couple weeks. And once he's pardon, he'll immediately be given a position in the gov't (as an "advisor" that tells the actual PM what to say and do, starting with unfreezing all his bank accounts and returning all his money).

Lots of red flags. They weren't paying their taxes. He was on overstay. The Partner claims his signature was forged. The Dane claims he has evidence that he had permission to forge his partner's signature - but somehow "forgot" to give that to his lawyer until after losing his court case. They don't say how long his overstay was. Normally if you make it to the airport and can pay the fine (and have an onward ticket) you can get away with it. Unless he was flagged in the Immigration system already. So close to getting away with it. But it's the Thai legal system. Even if you've been sent to prison for murder (or arranging a murder), if you are charged with something else afterwards you can apply for bail to fight those new charges. A certain "godfather of Chon Buri" did exactly that after being found guilty of arranging the murder of a political rival. He was charged in a land fraud case and allowed out on bail - and promptly did a runner. And stayed free until becoming seriously ill. When he "surrendered" I believe he was given one of those "VIP" suites in the same Hospital that Thaksin has been calling home since he returned. I keep telling my friends here - do not trust ANYONE - even fellow "countrymen" - when it comes to business and money here. Because literally everyone thinks that spending YOUR money is way more fun than spending their own. (My buddy lost 10k to a "nice guy" that he met in a bar, who supposedly had a small problem with being on overstay but the problem would "go away" if he gave an Immigration officer 10k. And (of course) he'd pay the money back as soon as his monthly transfer came through. He even sold it by having my friend meet him at the Immigration office, but of course the guy had to make the transfer in private and tells my friend he'll see him at the bar later. And, of course, my buddy never saw the guy again so he lost the 10k.) And another favourite scam was for an "old timer" that spent a lot of time in a bar and was known to many of the staff would meet some starry-eyed noobie on his first trip. Maybe buy him a couple drinks. Act like he's a "boss" by telling staff to do stuff or sending a girl over to the noobie. And ply him with tales of the easy life, owing a bar in Thailand and making money hand over fist. And once the noobie is hooked, offering to sell him half interest in the club. And, of course, once the money is in hand the guy disappears. The noob shows up at "his" bar and finds out the guy was just a customer, not an owner. Just like the old saying I learned on my first trip here. "If you want to make a small fortune in Thailand, start with a large one." (Because if you start with a large fortune, by the time you realize you are being screwed and get yourself out of the mess you're in, maybe you'll still have a small fortune remaining.)