Thailand Court Admits Alleged $420m Tax Evasion Suit Against Leicester City

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, Sports News Monday, November 13th, 2017

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A Thai anti-corruption court has admitted a suit accusing the Leicester City Football Club owner, King Power of the sum of $420m unpaid taxes.

An official of Bangkok’s Corruption court in an interview told reporters that the court has agreed to hear the case.

The case is considered to be a rare attack on an ultra-rich firm run by one of the kingdom’s best-connected billionaires.

The suit, which was filed by an anti-graft official, accused King Power executives of colluding with airport authorities to pay only three percent of the company’s annual revenue instead of the contracted 15 percent.

The plaintiff alleged that the graft had caused the state 14 billion baht ($420 million) in damages.

It would be recalled that King Power, whose lawyer initially declined to comment, has denied any wrongdoing and filed a number of defamation lawsuits against Charnchai – Plaintiff.

The suit is a rare setback for the company’s founder Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

The organization started with a single shop in Bangkok in 1989, but overtime, Vichai has built an estimated fortune of $2.9 billion through his duty-free empire.

King Power now has a near-monopoly on duty-free sales in Thailand’s main airports, plus a satellite mall in Bangkok favoured by Chinese tourists.

Vichai’s reputation for canny decision-making surged after the 2016 English Premier League championship win by minnows Leicester City, which his family bought for an estimated $58 million in 2010.