‘Godfather of Chonburi’, Somchai dies at age 82
CHON BURI: Somchai Khunplome, also known as Kamnan Poh or the “Godfather of Chon Buri”, died of cancer at a hospital in Muang district early yesterday morning. He was 82.
Somchai was pronounced dead at Samitivej Chonburi Hospital at about 3am. He was suffering from colon cancer, which had spread to the lungs, and other complications, a source said yesterday.
He was jailed in 2013, but paroled early in December 2017 due to his advanced age and health.
Somchai had been sentenced to 25 years for masterminding the murder of a political rival, Prayoon Sitthichoke, the kamnan of tambon Samet in Chon Buri’s Muang district, at a wedding reception in March 2003. The Supreme Court upheld the jail term in 2012. He was also given five years and four months for corruption involving the 1992 sale of land in Khao Maikaew forest reserve for use as a garbage dump.
He went on the run in 2006 and evaded arrest for seven years before police commandos caught up with him in eastern Bangkok in January 2013. Given time served and royal pardons, he was to serve another six more years in jail before becoming eligible for parole. He was originally scheduled for release in 2035.
Somchai was the son of a former village headman in tambon Saen Suk of Chon Buri, and his life was a ragsto-riches story. From humble beginnings, he became a mini-bus driver and later worked on a fishing trawler. He later won concessions to fish in Cambodian waters, started a mini-bus business and set up a building firm and a quarry.
He was also mayor of tambon Saen Suk and a member of the Chon Buri development coordination committee that supervised 103 local administration organisations around Pattaya.
Somchai leaves five children: Pattaya mayor Sonthaya Khunplome, Withaya Khunplome, president of the Chon Buri provincial administration organisation, Jiraporn, Itthipol and Saen Suk mayor Narongchai Khunplome.
Funeral rites were to be held at Wat Chaeng Charoen Don in tambon Saen Suk of Muang district, Chon Buri.