Chuwit: Top cops run soccer betting shops

BANGKOK: -- Senior police officers, ranging from the superintendent to inspector level at dozens of police stations throughout the capital, are involved in running illegal soccer betting shops, Chart Thai deputy leader Chuwit Kamolwisit charged yesterday.

Mr Chuwit, the House committee on police affairs vice-chairman, alleged that top law enforcement officers at 25 police stations run a betting den that monitors the results of overseas soccer matches and that others quietly watch over it in exchange for pay-offs.

An estimated 50 million baht in wagers on overseas soccer games was believed to change hands under the noses of officers at each city police station every month, said the former massage parlour tycoon.

Mr Chuwit said the downtown police stations involved included Bang Rak, Yan Nawa, Lumpini, Din Daeng, Hua Mark and Sutthisan.

Places where people placed bets on matches included pubs, grocery stores, snooker parlours and internet cafes, the Chart Thai MP said.

Mr Chuwit called on Crime Suppression Division commander Pol Maj-Gen Winai Thongsong to target these corrupt policemen first when moving against soccer gambling in the city.

Mr Chuwit said he feared police would only move against soccer bookies in the run-up to the annual reshuffle season this month and next, and then turn a blind eye to offenders the rest of the year.

``Besides the large number of adolescents and grassroots people indulging in soccer gambling, a cabinet member is said to have lost 500,000 baht in cash betting on an English Premier League match last week,'' he said.

Mr Chuwit did not name anyone, but said the minister was just one among a number of national-level politicians who indulged in such vices.

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-19

Isn't this a case of the pot calling the kettle black ??

Chuwit is no saint and it is well known that he bears a grudge against the police who he once conspired with in his nefarious business dealings regarding (under aged)prostitution, extortion and other bully boy tactics that greatly benefitted him and his sordid empire. He is no champion of the Thai people, just another greedy, corrupt and selfish man looking to make a name for himself, and in Thailand there are too many people like this already.

This level of hypocrasy is the norm in Thailand nowadays and it starts at the top with Toxin and his cronies and then permeates Thai society all the way down to grass root level, everything and everyone is corrupted and no one wants to see the light except when it shines on someone or something else.

So let it shine........ what little difference it will make when it all smoke and mirrors in this cartoon country called Thailand

It's certainly more than 50 million a month for the entire police operation. 50,, a month is about the turnover for a decent sized private operation.