Massage Parlour Sues Police Over Licence

[george]

Massage parlour sues police over licence

Company wants 4.2m baht in compensation

BANGKOK: -- The operator of the Alaina massage parlour yesterday sued the police chief and his office for more than four million baht after a panel reviewing its licence had indicated that it would be revoked. Lawyer Somkid Emapat, who represents TPTS Construction Co, filed the lawsuit with the Administrative Court and said the order by Pol Gen Kowit Wattana to set up a police committee to review its licence had damaged the business.

He said the Metropolitan Police Bureau issued the licence on Sept 2 but the police chief's order for the review showed an intent to damage the operator.

The company is demanding 4.2 million baht in compensation from the police chief and the national police office.

Mr Somkid said the police chief's order was illegitimate and the court was being asked to examine the use of authority because the operator had undergone normal legal procedures to obtain the licence.

In its lawsuit, the operator asks the court to order the national police chief to send it the licence. Investors have claimed they spent 200 million baht to build the parlour which has 160 massage rooms.

Alaina was put in the spotlight after Chuwit Kamolvisit, a Chart Thai MP for Bangkok, openly opposed it because it was located across the road from a school.

The issue has sparked debate and opposition from advocacy groups, which led the police to set up a body to review the case.

Despite issuing the license, police have not given it to the operator.

Officers reviewing its license found the operator to be in violation of the law, in a conclusion which could lead to the license being revoked.

Pol Gen Amnuay Petsiri, the deputy police chief who heads the review committee, said the business violated the service parlour law because it was located too close to a school and did not own the land. Alaina, on Ratchadaphisek Road, is less than 60 metres from Triam Udom Suksa Pattanakan Ratchadaphisek School and is built on land belonging to the State Railway of Thailand.

The report was yesterday handed to Pol Gen Kowit to make a final decision.

Comments from the panel suggested that the licence should be reviewed. Police sources said the chief was unlikely to make a decision opposing the panel's report.

The sources said the committee also suggested that the police chief order the Metropolitan Police Bureau to check other massage parlours to see if they violated regulations.

The Youth Network for Constructive Society urged Pol Gen Kowit to review the licence.

Rachata Boonsrirat, a Ramkhamhaeng University student who represents the group, said it did not want a massage parlour to operate near a school because it was a negative influence.

--Bangkok Post 2005-09-17

[bino]

Alaina massage parlour

Great name...... Arai Na???

Does anyone know where this place is? Is it the new massage parlour that has been built next to Robinson's on Ratchadaphisek Road?

[Heng]

Yes, that's it.

[Golf]

It's so funny to see a police general has to swear that the license given to this business is correct and just. It makes me think that, "Wait a minute. If this is true because you swear to the scared object, that means anything you say BEFORE this is not true at all?" Now everyone has to swear so the answers will be more serious I just can't take it anymore of this bullshxxxt! I swear!

Golf

[Heng]

You'd be surprised how many people, of any culture, would be willing to lie in court, swear to Allah/Buddha/God/etc., in exchange for nearly immediate compensation (often in cash). How many TV members would swear to the pile of magic rocks if they could wake up tomorrow with permanent residency? Well, said police general gets to wake up tomorrow and check his rather fat balances online.

[sriracha john]

Kovit says massage parlour can’t open

Elina massage parlour will not be allowed to operate after national police chief Kovit Wattana yesterday made his final decision on the matter, citing its proximity to a school as being against legal restrictions.

The police general assigned the Metropolitan Police Bureau to proceed with measures to ensure that the parlour would not open on September 29, its announced inauguration date.

Kovit said it was fine with him if the operators of Elina massage parlour decided to file a civil lawsuit against him.

“I am sued on a regular basis,” he said.

Somkid Aimphat, a lawyer representing the massage parlour, said he would decide what to do next after seeing official documents relating to Kovit’s decision.

“We will be responsible for anything wrong that will follow if we break any law, but if we do everything in accordance with the law to secure permission for Elina’s operation, the state authorities have to take responsibility as well,” he said.

Responding to news of Kovit’s decision, a butler employed by the Elina parlour said more than 700 staff members, including 300 masseuses, had been uneasy about their future after news reports of public disapproval of its opening.

Marut Janmalai said all 700 staffers had been employed since September 2, when the operators of Elina obtained an initial licence. “Now they all feel stranded,” he said.

-------------------

all that bribe money the operators paid is for nought...

for now, anyway... but I doubt this is the end of this story...

Edited September 20, 2005 by sriracha john

[DavieA]

I don't know, maybe I missed something here.

How does one build a 200million baht massage parlour 60 meters from a school, only to be told maybe you can't open because it's near a school and, you don't own the land and, you can't have a licence and, de dum de dum de dum.

Shouldn't they have known all this before they started building a 160 room building?

[Golf]

They knew it all! But they thought they already "paid" the police so they were safe. Wrong. This issue became hot 'cause many media exposed it. It became a hot potato. The police tried to give it a license, but this potato is too hot to handle. They have to let it go so the owner is screwd and he wants his money back!

Golf

[sriracha john]

They knew it all!  But they thought they already "paid" the police so they were safe.  Wrong.  This issue became hot 'cause many media exposed it.  It became a hot potato.  The police tried to give it a license, but this potato is too hot to handle.  They have to let it go so the owner is screwd and he wants his money back!

Golf

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Reminds one of Thaksin's sister who refused to give back millions in

"pre-contract-awarding compensation" paid by the contractor for the new airport's parking garage, who wanted it back after not being awarded the contract.

[sabaijai]

An evening with Chuwit Kamolvisit, MP: The Strange Case of the New Massage Parlor, and Other Tales from Bangkok’s Dark Side

Postponed from October 12th to the last week of the month due to a scheduling

conflict. Confirmed date & time forthcoming.

It was the first license issued by the Royal Thai Police in more than 27 years for a new massage parlor, and it not only ran counter to the government’s own professed policy, but was in flagrant violation of Interior Ministry regulations prohibiting such establishments within 500 yards of a school. Nevertheless, the massive Elina parlor was set to open this month on Ratchadaphisak Road, that is until Chuwit Kamolvisit blew the whistle on what he called “the mother of all massage parlors,” resulting in the hasty revocation of its license by more than one red-faced police chief.

Emboldened by his success, Chuwit has now taken his crusade further, demanding the Prime Minister stamp out the entire industry, which he says is riddled with prostitution and all sorts of other illegal dealings. Hundreds of young Burmese and Karen girls and women are being lured, he claims, into a life of prostitution in what are, in essence, legalized brothels. And he should know, having been, not so very long ago, Bangkok’s undisputed massage parlor king.

But that was then and this is now, and Chuwit, newly elected member of parliament and deputy leader of the Chart Thai Party, is today one of Thailand’s leading anticorruption crusaders.

Well, as they say, it takes a thief to catch a thief, so he just might be the right man for the job. Please join us as the rabble-rousing MP reflects on his first year in Parliament, his battle against corruption and, of course, the strange saga of the first new massage parlor in a generation that tried to put down roots.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT)

Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building

518/5 Ploenchit Road

Patumwan, Bangkok 10330

Tel: 02-652-0580-1

Fax: 02-652-0582

http://www.fccthai.com/

[OZONE]

An evening with Chuwit Kamolvisit, MP: The Strange Case of the New Massage Parlor, and Other Tales from Bangkok’s Dark Side

Postponed from October 12th to the last week of the month due to a scheduling

conflict. Confirmed date & time forthcoming.

It was the first license issued by the Royal Thai Police in more than 27 years for a new massage parlor, and it not only ran counter to the government’s own professed policy, but was in flagrant violation of Interior Ministry regulations prohibiting such establishments within 500 yards of a school. Nevertheless, the massive Elina parlor was set to open this month on Ratchadaphisak Road, that is until Chuwit Kamolvisit blew the whistle on what he called “the mother of all massage parlors,” resulting in the hasty revocation of its license by more than one red-faced police chief.

Emboldened by his success, Chuwit has now taken his crusade further, demanding the Prime Minister stamp out the entire industry, which he says is riddled with prostitution and all sorts of other illegal dealings. Hundreds of young Burmese and Karen girls and women are being lured, he claims, into a life of prostitution in what are, in essence, legalized brothels. And he should know, having been, not so very long ago, Bangkok’s undisputed massage parlor king.

But that was then and this is now, and Chuwit, newly elected member of parliament and deputy leader of the Chart Thai Party, is today one of Thailand’s leading anticorruption crusaders.

Well, as they say, it takes a thief to catch a thief, so he just might be the right man for the job. Please join us as the rabble-rousing MP reflects on his first year in Parliament, his battle against corruption and, of course, the strange saga of the first new massage parlor in a generation that tried to put down roots.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT)

Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building

518/5 Ploenchit Road

Patumwan, Bangkok 10330

Tel: 02-652-0580-1

Fax: 02-652-0582

http://www.fccthai.com/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I'm not surprised by this act of stupidity by the Thai authority. This is nothing new and it won't be the last as long as the gov't have their hands out for "tea money"