BANGKOK: Thailand’s junta number two has been snapped with 25 different luxury watches worth $1.2 million since a 2014 coup, social media sleuths said Wednesday, a day after the ex-general vowed to resign if a graft panel finds him guilty of wrongdoing.
Prawit Wongsuwan has been under pressure since December when the ´CSI LA´ Facebook page began to catalogue luxury timepieces worn by the deputy prime minister from photos and internet news reports.
The concerted social media campaign is urging the kingdom´s anti-graft body to probe how the luxury watches came into Prawit´s possession — and is hugely embarrassing to Thailand´s military government. It toppled the government of Yingluck Shinwatra in 2014 vowing to purge the country of graft, a scourge it blamed on Thailand’s civilian rulers.
Prawit was one of the architects of the coup.On Wednesday the Thai-language ´CSI LA´ page raised the watch tally after finding a fresh photo of him wearing a Patek Phillipe model at a temple ceremony in 2014.
“We have found 25 luxury watches worth more than $1.24 million, including 11 Rolexes, eight Patek Philippes and three Richard Millies,” a post said, urging its near-750,000 followers to unearth more photos. Prawit has so far not disputed the number of watches.
