Damage to billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, caused by Moscow thieves, exceeded 800,000 rubles.
Photo: AP
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Former Thai PM Robbed in Moscow
Kommersant learned on Friday that former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra had been robbed in Moscow. The Thai politician, overthrown in a military coup in 2006, arrived to Moscow to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Plekhanov Russian Economics Academy. Shinawatra and his bodyguard went to McDonald’s, where the politician’s briefcase with passport, personal belongings and money was stolen.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, overthrown in a military coup in Thailand in September 2006, was robbed in Moscow on May 21st in McDonald’s on Arbat street, 52. Shinawatra came into the fast food café together with his bodyguard, who carried the politician’s briefcase with documents and cash. During their lunch, the bodyguard left the briefcase unattended, and it disappeared.
The former PM did not go to the police himself. His bodyguard, Chavalit Nuchakul, applied to the police, calling himself a tourist from Thailand and saying that his briefcase, containing a digital video-camera, a digital photo-camera, 60,000 rubles, $15,000, and £1,100, was stolen between 4:30 and 4:40 p.m. The total value of stolen things was estimated by the claimant at over 800,000 rubles. The criminal case was initiated the same day. The thief has not been found yet.
Plekhanov Russian Economics Academy said the unpleasant incident in McDonald’s did not frustrate Shinawatra’s plans, and his visit to the Academy took place. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences. Thailand’s embassy in Moscow issued a temporary document instead of the politician’s stolen passport, and he flew away to London.
Shinawatra received a new passport in Thai embassy in Great Britain. The politician has been living in that country after the military coup in Thailand. He is going to buy Manchester City, a club of English Premier League. It remains unclear why Shinawatra, whose fortune is estimated at $3 billion, chose McDonald’s out of all restaurants of Moscow.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 26, 2007
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