LETTER FROM BANGKOK
Chuwit Kamolvisit, known as “Chuwit”, is on a crusade against the influence of Chinese organized crime in Thailand: this troublemaker of Thai political life, who was the boss of the largest massage parlors in Bangkok – to understand, decorated with young ladies -, then briefly became a deputy before returning since the 2014 coup to the management of his luxury hotel, has been leading a virulent campaign of denunciation for more than two months. Hardly a day goes by without the slick, gray-haired, loud-mouthed 60-year-old social media star accusing police officials of trying to cover up the ‘Tuhao’ case. , as the number one suspect of a sprawling scandal is nicknamed, a Chinese naturalized Thai in 2014. “Tuhao” designates in Mandarin a provincial kingpin, and by extension, a “new rich person”.
Like an overexcited referee
It all started with a night raid on October 26, in a discreet karaoke in the center of Bangkok, located at the back of the parking lot of a car wash, the Jinling International. The police thought they were finding clandestine games there, a relatively minor offense which generally gives rise to arrangements – in other words, bribes. Instead, the investigators discovered such a quantity of drugs, in safes – in the form of a cocktail of ecstasy, methamphetamine and diazepam – and in the bodies of the hundred Chinese customers present that evening, let the whole police machine get involved and go up the trail, spurred on by Chuwit. Not only has he mapped the activities of these crooks from mainland China – he has been working there since July, he will tell us – but he whistles, like an overexcited referee, those of the investigators whom he knows to be at fault. . At least 20 officials from various agencies are now under investigation.
Tuhao, the owner of karaoke, alias Chaiyanat Kornchayanant, according to his Thai name, is at the center of an empire: enriched in Chinese tourism known as “zero bath” – by which Chinese tourists are transported, housed, fed and entertained by All-Chinese service providers – he owns a lavish 5 million euro residence in Bangkok, a fleet of luxury cars, a private jet and around 20 companies in Bangkok, Phuket and elsewhere. Tuhao eventually surrendered, along with his lawyers, on November 28. But several of his Chinese acolytes, nightclub owners from Bangkok and Pattaya, are on the run. In all, 6 billion baht – around 160 million euros – were seized.
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