A photograph of a Thai deputy prime minister has created a scandal:


From the NPR (US) article https://www.npr.org/sections/parall...nsive-watches-bring-down-thailands-government :

Last month, at a Cabinet function on the lawn of Bangkok's Government House, deputy prime minister and defense minister Prawit Wongsuwan made a simple gesture: He raised his arm to shield his eyes from the sun.

He might be wishing by now that he hadn't. In doing so, he exposed the bling on his wrist and a diamond ring on his finger. The wristwatch turned out to be a Richard Mille, worth $90,000 by some accounts. Internet sleuths were quick to scour the Web for more treasure, discovering photos of a slew of watches on Prawit's wrist over the past few years, including several Richard Milles, Patek Philippes and Rolexes.

The total, according to the Los Angeles based Thai Facebook page CSI-LA: 25 luxury watches and counting, worth more than $1 million, and all undeclared on his personal assets list.

It all seems a bit much on a civil servant's modest salary. And the fallout has caused enough damage to the military-led government's already-tarnished image that some analysts are wondering how long the government, in power since a 2014 coup, can last.

Those of us with wives may possibly sympathize with the guy.

From the article:
At first, the pugnacious Prawit was unrepentant, telling reporters he couldn't remember where or when he got his watches — and questioning why it was any of their business anyway. But he said he'd be happy to talk to the National Anti-Corruption Committee — headed until Wednesday by one of his own former aides — and vowed to step down if found guilty.

Prawit later changed his tune about the watches, saying he'd "borrowed" them from friends.

I gotta try that "borrowed" schtick next time...

 

Isn't the military junta currently in great power (and popularity) in Thailand ?

 

The gold chairs don’t help. I miss the charm of the simple military field chairs.

 

When my wife saw what was on my wrist one day, it created quite a scandal in my home...why not a government?

 

I used to work for a big professional services firm (accountants, tax advisors, lawyers). One of the senior partners had a nice watch collection, but noticed he would always put on a slightly beaten up old Timex digital watch before we went to any client sales or fee negotiation meetings...

 

Senior partner wearing a old timex digital...he might achieve the opposite effect....

 

Gold chairs have their place. https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...22769454f82_story.html?utm_term=.4698c9be9e25

 

The military junta is in great power, and keeping one's head attached to one's body is extremely popular with the people.

 

At least El Generalissimo had the decency to state that he only wears a cheap Seiko.

 

Reminds me of a guy wearing an unusual expensive watch to a Army WW2 reunion. When asked where he got it he said "I took it off a dead Jap".
His Army buddy said "but didn't you serve in France with the rest of us?".
He then replied "Yeah but my Gardener had a heat attack while mowing the yard last week, I figured he had no further use for it, better me than the morgue attendant".

 

Depends on culture, customer and setting I guess...

 

Scandal over. He's returned the watches to his dead friend.

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2018/09/11/all-luxury-watches-returned-to-friend-prawit-says/

His shirt sleeves look a bit longer in that photo. Might be a few Richard Mille on EBay in the next few days.