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Bangkok sex tycoon goes for broke against police

A sex tycoon who owns a string of massage parlors in Thailand is boiling with anger and indignation against the Bangkok police.

With nearly 2,000 young women working for him, Chuwit Kamolvisit says he plied police for years with cash, Rolex watches, European cars and free services at his six parlors, with names like Emmanuelle, Victoria's Secret, and Honolulu Love Boat.

And what does he get in return? Harassment and indifference when he got into trouble with the law for employing underage girls.

So Chuwit, 42, became a crusader for civic virtue, a celebrity avenger, holding daily news conferences to reveal charges of police greed, threatening to name the high-ranking policemen he says were beneficiaries of his generosity.

"This isn't a love comedy. It's a war movie. Somebody has to die in the end," the trim, mustachioed entrepreneur, who favors pink shirts and flashy ties, told The Associated Press in an interview at one of his clubs, Copa Cabana.

Thais are hanging on his every word, eagerly awaiting the latest episode of Chuwit's serial expose. Suddenly, the news channels and front pages of Thai newspapers have become spicier.

"Chuwit has become a public icon," wrote Suthichai Yoon, the editor of The Nation, an English-language daily.

Chuwit has not provided a shred of evidence to back his claims. But in a country where police corruption is legendary, the credibility of Bangkok's officers is much the same of its massage parlor owners. No surprise then that the Thai public are enjoying watching the brown-uniformed force squirm under Chuwit's torrential allegations on national television.

"Once he may have been a `bad boy' ready to cut corners and grease palms ... but when he decided to go for broke against corrupt police, Chuwit overnight became the darling of the urban middle class, who saw him as the outlet for their entrenched frustrations against `crooks in uniform,'" Suthichai wrote.

Chuwit's troubles -- and those of the force -- started when police arrested him on May 2 on charges of unlawfully demolishing a downtown Bangkok block housing scores of bars and shops to make way for another massage parlor, the Taj Mahal.

On May 3, he was charged with running a brothel using underage girls at the Honolulu Love Boat. He could face 20 years in prison if convicted.

In Thailand, a massage can mean two things -- a genuine oil rub by hard-knuckled middle-aged masseurs, or the massage from a young woman that usually leads to sex in a back room.

But what happens at the parlor is between the masseuse and the client, Chuwit says.

He claims to have spent about US$289,156 each month in payoffs to policemen. He said he had even treated them to expensive wines and house renovations..

"Enough is enough. I'm a mad dog now," he said. "If they can't help me out of something trivial like this, I see no point why I should continue paying it."
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