Updated: Dishonorable and detestable

Two of our least favorite useful idiots (for juntas and other elite conservatives) employed by the royalist establishment are in the news.

The horrid and notoriously corrupt Pol Gen Somyos Pumpanmuang gets a dishonorable mention in a Thai PBS story about his alleged mismanagement of the Thai Football Association.

Somyos and some of his money

Somyos is a self-declared user of “friends” cash and one of the wealthiest police chiefs in recent memory, at least based on declared assets. The former national police chief is also involved in the trial of those who abetted the notorious Red Bull cover-up.

In the current story, the new FAT president, Nualphan Lamsam claims that in addition to a 155 million baht debt to FIFA, she “has inherited 132 million baht in debt, 360 million baht in compensation due to Siam Sports Syndicate as ordered by the Supreme Court, and 27 million baht in cash” from the sneaky cop.

She “went on to say that General Somyot, while serving as FA Thailand president and chairman of the Thai League, received about one million baht in monthly salary, adding that previous FAT presidents had declined the payment because the job is voluntary.” Somyot states he returned all that salary, but Nualphan said accountants couldn’t find it in the association’s books.

Sports bodies have long been the playthings of corrupt generals.

The other detestable is Election Commission secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee. He’s being pursued by a group of reserve senators that:

plans to call on the Election Commission at the headquarters tomorrow (March 12) to immediately suspend Sawaeng from working as the secretary-general of the polling agency since he had evidently failed to stop an alleged electoral fraud among a large number of senatorial contestants including as many as 138 winning ones.

That seems a reasonable proposal given that he could control any inquiry by manipulating witnesses and documents.

Update: The Nation has a fascinating report on the links between football, politics, Newin Chidchob and the execrable Somyos.