Chuwit Gets 5 Years Jail For Bangkok Bar Demolition Raid

[Fozfromoz]

So is it the case in Thailand that when you are convicted, you appeal, get bail then walk out? Isn't it in most countries, you go to jail first, then post bail?

Seems that way, if the sentenced cops a couple of weeks ago is anything to go by.

[Ferangled]

Chuwit became an MP after the crime was committed but before he was convicted, a smart move on his part I reckon.

Chuwit did it because the sick system in Thailand do not help people in this situation !

You had not been so long i think, most of us have heard about people who own some land, suddenly they see some who had moved in and camped on their land, but here in Thailand you can not just kick them out, they will claim that their family had lived there for so and so many years, even all know they moved in last month, but the court system works so slow, that it will easy take 10 years before you have a court who say you can move them, then if you do it to hard your are blamed for that too !

So would you like some use your property without your aproval ???

No of course not, so therefore can we support Chuwit in what he did (no one was heart, only structures was smashed, inventory was mostly saved and people was allowed to pick it up later) !

I would use another methode, spraying pig manure all over my land at night !!! (but not so easy in Soi 10 Sukhumvit ) !

Yes, poor Chuwit with rent paying "squatters" on his land, land paid for and bought off the backs of illegal prostitution. What a stand up guy! With an estimated annual revenue of 1 billion baht from his illegal enterprises he really is a model politician. We should all feel sympathy for this guy, he worked so hard to build his criminal empire and turn his image as a Pimp to one of crime fighting vigilante politician. What a role model to the Thai youth.

Let him pay for his crimes, but in all honesty, it takes a thief to catch a thief and nobody else out there is interested in bringing the multitude of corrupt politicians to account. I would give him a classic plea bargain, he will be in the clear if in the next 5 years he can bring down the top 200 corrupt politicians in Thailand. He knows them all, he knows how they work, he knows every dirty trick in the business, and for some reason he seems to be 'born again' (maybe he is worried about Karma), make him useful and bring down the corrupt.

No it takes a functional non corrupt police force and court system to catch a thief.

The real issue with Chuwit is that while he claims to have evidence on corrupt MPs & police he is holding this information as a personal security plan and not divulging it for the good of the Thai people. What little does get divulged is done so tactically and arguably to further his own interests.

Generally in the West when a criminal is caught and turns super grass his ill gotten gains are seized and then a plea bargain is worked out on balance against the information he releases and the prosecutions that can be made of the back of this information.

Chuwit still has all of his ill gotten gains and has not given state evidence against anyone. Let's face it, he's not some low level street pimp, he runs a multi-billion baht prostitution ring. It's a catch 22 as he'll never divulge the information in it's entirety because to do so will mean his own demise. The only way to get him to do so is to throw him into the coals and watch him squeal...

,

You've got to love Thailand's criminal "fraternity", no honour among thieves and it seems to have become fashionable to moonlight as a politician to further supplement your income and pave the way for really serious corruption!

[Sateev]

chuwit park.

open from 6 am till 8:30am then 5:30 until 8pm (or something ridiculous to that effect).

A real boon to the community.

So having a bunch of sleezey hooker bars is far better for the community than a park open for 4 hours a day?

JusAskin...

There were restaurants, clothing shops, beauty shops, internet cafes, foot massage, etc., and yes, a few beer bars fronting on Sukhumvit. Was it better - obviously not for you, judgmental person that you seem to be- but it was certainly not unique at the time. Asoke corner near and Clinton Plaza across the street. Soi Zeor (Buckskin Joe) was still open, and a dozen more places. Is the area better now, with nearly empty $200 a night hotels, and THB100,000/sq.m condos, also largely empty, springing up on every meter of Sukhumvit frontage?

Sukhumvit Road is outwardly much better looking these days, but just as corrupt, and maybe much more dangerous than it ever was when Soi 10 was busy...but you wouldn't know, would you?

[maidu]

I'm surprised news of this is hitting the headlines now. I've been bellyaching about it for years, thinking no one else remembered it. I doubt he'll do any real time.

Remember, right after the destruction, he ran off. When found (drunk by a hwy?) he kept saying, in effect, "If I'm prosecuted, a lot of police chiefs will be in trouble, because I have a lot of dirt on them."

Well, let's see the dirt.

[tinfoilhat]

chuwit park.

open from 6 am till 8:30am then 5:30 until 8pm (or something ridiculous to that effect).

A real boon to the community.

So having a bunch of sleezey hooker bars is far better for the community than a park open for 4 hours a day?

JusAskin...

the park could be a radical improvement, but playing the spin and selflessly dedicating a park in his own name that is barely accessible during the hours families would use it is a bit of a pisstake, wouldn't you agree. ??

[drdoom6996]

Sounds like all these former thugs and pimps have moved on to become fine upstanding members of society. He won't do the time. So now that he has been convicted of an offence I would presume that he will be leaving politics.

More suspended sentences?

[Arkady]

What about the army officers who provided the muscle for his clearance operation?

[theanimaster]

Regardless how much you liked the soi 10 bar scene, Chuwit's razing was justified as the bar owners were just greedy squatters whose lease had expired and refused to leave on land that was being sold. The razing was perhaps the most rational solution to solve a chaotic problem handled in the Thai way which has been repeated over and over elsewhere in Thailand. Immediately after the incident, Thaksin condemned the razing and vowed to find and prosecute those involved. The supreme court ruling should be interesting.

We've had nothing but problems with squatters in the past. Since my old man passed away we started setting things "right". Though the law is on our side, the police almost always aren't, and there's ALWAYS a lot of bribing to do before the situation can be cleared up.

If you don't own the land, you don't have a right to set up shop. If you don't comply, then the bulldozers are there to show you the door.

[HerbalEd]

Hope that this scum losses his appeal and end s up in jail with some other inmates finishing him off.....this guy was once selling girls including underaged girls from neighbouring countries and yet Thais voted him in. I also hope that someday somebody would send his kids to work in a brothel. Simply filth along with the media and people who support him.

What a nice wish for Chuwit's innocent kids.

[kruangfaifar]

I remember the Demolition of that Bar area in 2003.. I am amazed it has taking 9 years to bring this guy and his helpers to Justice.

But we all know, like Thaksin he will not see on par-second in Jail.

People will get paid off. and no appeal will be necessary

Unlike the US where celebrities like Martha Stewart can have such a hard time in jail that they can conjure up recipes that they go on to bost about on their TV shows.

Or like the UK where the drunken tw@t driver who killed my friend and almost crippled me for life got off scot free despite overwelming evidence because his father was a member of the same funny handshake mob as the local head of police.

Its not a prefect world when it comes to justice and Thailand is no exception

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re Chuwit Park, it used to be open all day, morning until evening, until maybe a year or so ago...

And then the hours were shortened and now I believe it's just a couple hours in the morning and another couple hours in the late afternoon/early evening, but closed during the midday.

It's a very nice little local park, a kind of haven from the noise and rush of adjoining Suk Rd... Very popular with Thai and farang Moms and their small children. Too bad its hours have been limited.

[HerbalEd]

What is on the site now? GPS co- ords?

You don't need co-ords. Just look it up on Google Maps.

[tinfoilhat]

well i have been walking by it for 2 years now, and have never seen it open

Edited September 12, 2012 by tinfoilhat

[HerbalEd]

What is on the site now? GPS co- ords?

Vacant you can see from nana BTS station on the southside.

It's far from vacant ... it now is a beautiful garden park .. and it's not visible from Nana BTS station.

[HerbalEd]

Chuwit became an MP after the crime was committed but before he was convicted, a smart move on his part I reckon.

Chuwit did it because the sick system in Thailand do not help people in this situation !

You had not been so long i think, most of us have heard about people who own some land, suddenly they see some who had moved in and camped on their land, but here in Thailand you can not just kick them out, they will claim that their family had lived there for so and so many years, even all know they moved in last month, but the court system works so slow, that it will easy take 10 years before you have a court who say you can move them, then if you do it to hard your are blamed for that too !

So would you like some use your property without your aproval ???

No of course not, so therefore can we support Chuwit in what he did (no one was heart, only structures was smashed, inventory was mostly saved and people was allowed to pick it up later) !

I would use another methode, spraying pig manure all over my land at night !!! (but not so easy in Soi 10 Sukhumvit ) !

Yes, poor Chuwit with rent paying "squatters" on his land, land paid for and bought off the backs of illegal prostitution. What a stand up guy! With an estimated annual revenue of 1 billion baht from his illegal enterprises he really is a model politician. We should all feel sympathy for this guy, he worked so hard to build his criminal empire and turn his image as a Pimp to one of crime fighting vigilante politician. What a role model to the Thai youth.

Let him pay for his crimes, but in all honesty, it takes a thief to catch a thief and nobody else out there is interested in bringing the multitude of corrupt politicians to account. I would give him a classic plea bargain, he will be in the clear if in the next 5 years he can bring down the top 200 corrupt politicians in Thailand. He knows them all, he knows how they work, he knows every dirty trick in the business, and for some reason he seems to be 'born again' (maybe he is worried about Karma), make him useful and bring down the corrupt.

All the more reason for them to put him in jail where he can do them no harm .... or, maybe ... hopefully ... he'll finally dust off all those incriminating videos and expose them all.

[billd766]

What is on the site now? GPS co- ords?

Vacant you can see from nana BTS station on the southside.

The two plots of land that you see from Nana BTS have been there since before I came in 1993. The one on the left as you look started building around 1996/97 and died in the Thai crisis, the one next to Pacific Place 2 has never been used. I believe they are owned by the family tha own Nana Plaza and Washington Square.

[HerbalEd]

The plot is the corner of sukhumvit and Soi 10 !

Now Chuwit Park !

He owns it and paid for the park.

The reason for that he want them of the land was, that he wanted to develope it, but because so many said he was only greedy, he decided to give the Bangkok people a Park !

Open all day for every body.

Yes, he had some massage parlours, a little statistic, prostetution between foreigners and Thais is only about 10% of all prostetution in Thailand, so how many do you think is involved ?

He ran massage parlours same way as thousand others did !

Now he think he is convereted to be a honest man, and do quite a good job in fight corruption, so at leat he do a littele to Thailand now, all the others dosen't !

What about all these who had been stealing national park land ??? You all enjoy to stay at their resorts/hotels etc.

no it is not. open mornings and evenings for a total of about 4 hours a day.

It's actually open five hours per day. Still, since I live on Soi 10, I wish it were open longer ... but I'll take what I can get. It is indeed a very nice and well maintained park. BTW, it's named Chuwit Garden ... not Park.

[TwoDogz]

He's a disgrace to the nation........this is the rotten evil corrupt Thailand we all detest personified

Scum, total scum.

You seem to have a run of negativity of late.

I was wondering how long the good could last....its in us all, don't despair.

Ps...I love Chuvit.

[soloman]

'Donating' a park to the people of Bangkok is very altruistic, but my thought is, "after all of the legal matters are taken care of, and forgotten, will the 'Park' morph into a high rise?"

[bkkjames]

What is on the site now? GPS co- ords?

Vacant you can see from nana BTS station on the southside.

The two plots of land that you see from Nana BTS have been there since before I came in 1993. The one on the left as you look started building around 1996/97 and died in the Thai crisis, the one next to Pacific Place 2 has never been used. I believe they are owned by the family tha own Nana Plaza and Washington Square.

The one next to Pacific Place was sold a couple years back for a record at the time 1 Billion Baht or something.

[HerbalEd]

I'm surprised news of this is hitting the headlines now. I've been bellyaching about it for years, thinking no one else remembered it. I doubt he'll do any real time.

Remember, right after the destruction, he ran off. When found (drunk by a hwy?) he kept saying, in effect, "If I'm prosecuted, a lot of police chiefs will be in trouble, because I have a lot of dirt on them."

Well, let's see the dirt.

Given that Chuwit was just sentenced, why your surprised by the current headlines?

[HerbalEd]

'Donating' a park to the people of Bangkok is very altruistic, but my thought is, "after all of the legal matters are taken care of, and forgotten, will the 'Park' morph into a high rise?"

While I love the park and congratulate Chuwit for building it ... it was not "donated" and his actions were not all altruistic. That piece of real estate is extremely valuable and I can't help but wonder how long the park will survive before it's turned into a high rise.

[orang37]

Khun Chuwit should be given a medal by the United Nations for promoting "green" urban renewal.

Why he may go to jail now: clue: Dubai.

Why he may not go to jail now: he's been set up to "take a fall on his face," as revenge for exposing connections between gambling dens in Bangkok and certain people. After the "loss of face," he may well have (any, or all, of) assets, incriminating evidence, and connections, that will keep him out of jail.

~o:37

[ALFREDO]

I remember the Demolition of that Bar area in 2003.. I am amazed it has taking 9 years to bring this guy and his helpers to Justice.

I remember it to. I was in Bangkok that time, staying in Lower Sukhumvit, wanted to look that Bar scene, but was than a little to late!

One night a lively place, next night, dead silence.

The newspapers wrote-

The Police had been informed to stay in their offices, Army with heavy duty came on, Bulldozers? and they gave the Bar owners only a short time to pack up.10 Min or 30? than the commandos worked and flattened the place.

A lot of equipment and booze got lost in that chaos but no casualties, as far as I know.

[boggle]

I for one applaud Chuwit for doing this. They all new it was going to happen. Some were trying to sell their shitty little bars to stupid farangs as well. I have little pity for the owners of the bars.

A little birdy also told me Mr T was pushing to buy this place. This may had some thing to do with it as well. Chuwit was said to have a told Mr T not on the hair of your chinny chin chin, and went and made his park.

Chuwit, as is my understanding, is some what of a hero to the every day Thai for standing up to the so called elites. Running the "massage palors" means squat to them.

He may have made a great deal of his money through dodgy things but then again he is not robinson crusoe is he?

[TomTao]

Well this will be interesting, I wonder when the statutory of limitations is on this one, it is pushing 10 years since the crime already.What is interesting is that Chuwit has just been sentenced, yet he is still a serving MP...in session? Currently non of the court cases against some of the red leaders are being heard because the red leaders are serving MP's. This clearly sets precedence that hearings and sentencing can take place.

Very funny that the lawyer appeals an 8 month sentence and gets 5 years...Doh!

Thailand may be different but normally with the statute of limitation it means that the charges have to be filed with the court within that time. This matter has already been heard and is now just an appeal.

Thanks

I guess that means that Thaksin can outrun crimes he has not yet been charged with, but his original 2 year jail term must stick then. Though wasn't there recently the Banker who came back to Thailand after years in exile as his crime is now past its sell by date? I thought he had been charged? Whatever, this is a story bound to sell more newspapers!

I don't know how the statute of limitations works in Thailand, I know a woman who lives in Australia who was involved with selling computers that were stolen from a government office in a provence just north east of Bangkok, she says she didn't know they were stolen until after they were sold, she has been told that if she ever returns to Thailand she will be arrested on arrival, so perhaps there is a pause button on the statute of limitations that is pressed when a Thai who has commited a crime in Thailand moves and lives overseas. Perhaps somebody with a bit of knowledge in this area could could comment.

[bkkjames]

As an MP can he get immunity? what's his face (fat one) seems to have this ace up his sleeve all the time.

[KarstenBoAndersen]

Limitation is 15 years i think !

They just wrote about some of these <deleted> who stole a lot of money on the bank scandals in 97, they had just returned home with their pocket full of money !

[ALFREDO]

He needs to go to jail, what he did to the livelyhood of those bar owners was a disgrace, plus, he flattened my local and one of the best pool bars in Bangkok. For anyone who isn't aware he basically hired the army to flatten the block whilst the BIB stood by and let it happen.

A lot of the girls and other employees lost Id cards and othe valuables

Why did their iD cards lay back in closed bars ?? (it was late at night they came) !!

If they had asked for it, they was allowed in to pickup their thingsw, hundred others was allowed that

(they got back all their inventory, stock, personally belongings etc.)

It was wood sheds

I can only repeat what the Newspapers wrote after that raid.

A big group of Army soldiers with heavy equipment, bulldozers came and gave the Bars and whatever businesses only a very short time 10-30 minutes to get out of their premises. by far not enough time to get it all.

The Police was informed and advised not to intervene and they did not intervene!

Than the place was raided and flattened

Sure no time for discussions and to bring all important things out of your shack, who did not move would have been hurt or killed!

That is how the papers told it!

[tinfoilhat]

He's a disgrace to the nation........this is the rotten evil corrupt Thailand we all detest personified

Scum, total scum.

You seem to have a run of negativity of late.

I was wondering how long the good could last....its in us all, don't despair.

Ps...I love Chuvit.

i find it a bit of a relief, all that bonhomie can be taxing