Word: tumwattana
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Thai lawmaker Hangthong Tumwattana was visibly upset when he turned up at his family's 12-bedroom mansion on the night of Sept. 5, 1999. A scion of one of Thailand's richest business clans, Hangthong's personal fortune had been depleted by costly political campaigns and his familial relations strained by an ugly inheritance feud. "He was nervous, hands shaking as he ate," recalls younger brother Nopdol Tumwattana, who lived at the compound in Bang Khen in northern Bangkok with Hangthong and may have been the last person to see his brother alive. Hours later, after calls from panicked...
...With its seamy mix of political power, billions of baht in booty, and high-society scandal, the Hangthong case is just the latest installment of a Tumwattana family saga that is Shakespearean in its tragic body count. Starting in the 1950s as owners of a slaughterhouse, the clan's patriarch, Arkom, and his wife, Suwapee, built a Bangkok-based real estate empire worth an estimated $400 million. But wealth didn't bring security to the family, which numbered 10 children. In 1966, Arkom was shot dead in what was believed to be a business dispute. The case remains unsolved. Thirteen...
...Nopdol, whose trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, says he fears he will be found guilty due to the current political climate. Meanwhile, the six surviving Tumwattana siblings remain a family divided. "It's really a shame," says Hangthong's son Changwat, who adds that he believes his uncle Nopdol is innocent. "Our family could have become one of the most prominent in Thailand. But greed has held us back. Greed has been our tragedy...
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