Bangkok Guru

Yes, against all the odds that the Thaksin family and their cronies would never be convicted, the Thai Supreme Court has today sensationally sentenced Thaksin’s wife, Pojaman, to three years in jail for tax fraud - not biggest sum in the world, only 546m baht (£8.2m / $16.4m).

Her brother was also given the same sentence while her secretary was handed a slighly more lenient 2 year sentence. Predictably though, the trio were immediately released on bail, now pending an appeal which many believe will still be lost.

Well, it’s not the best day for those die-hard Thaksin fans who must have been absolutely gobsmacked with the court verdict when they had hoped that Thaksin’s proxy Samak, who’s the current PM, could at least exert a bit of authority to help out. Obviously they were wrong. In fact, they should have known that Samak is now a total liability and he himself is struggling to keep his own job and even risks having his People’s Power Party dissolved following electoral fraud charges.

It was quite a day for Thai politics today with everyone at work totally engaged in the discussion. My mate even jokingly asked if anyone would be up for serving a 3-year sentence in exchange for that 546m baht. The reactions were rather mixed with most inclined to say no.

That’s quite a surprise to me because personally speaking I’d definitely go for it so long as I had a comfy private room and a laptop with access to the Internet. Think about it people. Three years in captivity for a cool £8m - that’s more than what most Premier League footballers earn and you wouldn’t have to do bugger all for the rest of your life either. Just make sure you avoid dropping the soap in the shower though!