JIRABHOP "KONG" BHURIDEJ AND THE AOT/KING POWER CONNECTION

 We've previously blogged about Police Lt General Jirabhop Bhuridej's friendly lunch date with wanted Cambodian cyberscammer Rithy Raksmei. 

 Over recent days we've been digging a bit more into the background of Bhuridej and have found that since 2023 he's been sitting on the Board of Directors at the Airports of Thailand (AOT).  His role at AOT includes him working as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, a Member of the Audit Committee and a Member of the Nomination Committee.



These are, of course, all very important positions, wherein he makes decisions how much people are paid, that everything is above board in terms of finances and also shaping who is nominated to serve on the board. 

 So why is somebody with a record of having convivial lunches with wanted cyberscammers holding an important decision-making role in one of Thailand's most important companies?

 Well, as anyone who has watched Thailand's various corruption scandals over the years will know AOT has been at the center of some of the largest purported "scams". 

 These have centered on the awarding of a duty free monopolies to the King Power group and have previously led to very high profile investigations some of which appear to have been closed down due to dubious technicalities. 100s of millions of US$ have been at stake with some claiming that the King Power monopoly has basically denied the Thai people 100s of billions of Thai Baht in tax revenue that could be used for things like hospitals, schools etc. 

 The Thai English language daily newspaper, hardly known for taking on vested interests in Thailand, calls the AOT/King Power set up "the most controversial monopoly in Thailand" and strongly suggests that the AOT/King Power relationship is dubious at best. 

 Even as recently as April 2026 a former Thai lawmaker/MP has been asking for the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to investigated the board of directors at AOT and that recent shenanigans has lost the Thai taxpayer over 180billion Thai Baht (US$5.5billion) through lost revenue. 


                                               Kong and cyberscammer Rithy Raksmei

 We can only assume that Kong feels very comfortable in this kind of set-up and that maybe he's going to nominate one of his lunch pals for the Board of Directors. 

 Step forward Rithy Raksmei?

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