Huge court case against Leicester City chairman and King Power in Thailand is dismissed

A graft case against Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has been dismissed by a Thai court. The amount involved was around, a staggering, £327 million.

Good news for the Leicester City owners, and inadvertently, the football club emerged earlier in the week. It was always thought, or speculated, that the case against King Power International Group was flimsy and would be disregarded legally.

However, if the graft case was proven, it may have affected King Power owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s spending ability with Leicester City, in addition to Belgian football club, Oud-Heverlee Leuven.

Consequently, the Blue Army can rest assured that their beloved chairman is innocent and clear of wrong doing. Mr Srivaddhanaprabha is a philanthropist, helping hospitals and charity.

Not to mention enabling the Foxes achieve the unachievable as they triumphed to lift the Premier League trophy in 2016. He also regularly treats the faithful supporters to free gifts: with beer and cake at the King Power and scarves at away games. This goes some way to explaining his valued status in Leicester.

Case details

The case centred on the accusation that:

"“King Power failed to pay the Thai government 14 billion baht from the operation of an airport franchise it was granted in 2006.”– (Via: Reuters)"

Reuters goes on to say: “A former anti-graft official, Chanchai Aitsarasenalux, had in a private capacity sued executives from both firms [Airports of Thailand and King Power] last year.”

Both companies denied the allegations profusely. Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, vice chairman of Leicester City stated:

"“King Power has always followed and been absolutely committed to the highest standards in proper and ethical business practice.“We are proud of our company’s good name and honest reputation and will fight rigorously any attempts to discredit them.”– Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (Via: Telegraph)"

Chanchai said he will appeal the decision and previously exclaimed: “Filing a lawsuit against someone isn’t fun, because they can counter-sue us, but we have checked accuracy and are ready to be counter-sued. We don’t do this based on a personal [issue], but it is about the nation.” Quote via Guardian.

Above is channel news Asia’s report on the situation via Twitter.

In 2020 the 14-year franchise deal is up and becomes available under auction. King Power will surely attempt to complete another lucrative duty-free contract with transparency and responsibility as it appears they always do.

Off the pitch, apart from this concern, Leicester City are generally winning. On it, there are problems, but not turmoil – yet. Claude Puel‘s team aim for three points as they entertain Huddersfield Town in the premiership on Saturday.