Sondhi Limthongkul

Sondhi founded Manager Daily in 1982 after several ventures in publishing. The newspaper became his personal mouthpiece, and he used the profits to build a publishing, broadcasting, and telecommunications empire.

During Bloody May in 1992, Sondhi and his media played a significant role in opposing the then military government's crackdown on protesters, issuing a free special tabloid on the events when the government threatened to shut down his newspaper.

By 1996, he had over US$600 million in assets. His business faced a meltdown following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, forcing him into bankruptcy and sparking investigations into irregular inter-company transactions. Immediately after the crisis, Sondhi furiously attacked the Democrat-led government over its management of the economic recovery. With the election of Thaksin Shinawatra as Prime Minister in 2001, several of Sondhi's associates became leaders in the new government. His banker, Viroj Nualkhair, became president of state-owned Krung Thai Bank and gave more than a billion baht in "debt forgiveness" to Sondhi, allowing him to emerge from bankruptcy. Sondhi became a vocal supporter of Thaksin, calling him "the best prime minister our country has ever had."[6]

In 2005, Viroj Nualkhair was dismissed from the KTB after incurring over 40 billion baht in problem loans. Sondhi then began criticizing Thaksin using the media under his control, including satellite broadcaster ASTV. He founded the People's Alliance for Democracy, aimed at overthrowing the Thaksin government. The PAD cancelled their activities after a military coup overthrew Thaksin. However, when Thaksin-affiliated parties won a post-coup election, and vowed to revise the new constitution, which they claimed was 'undemocratic', the PAD reformed and renewed its protests. In 2008, Sondhi and PAD demonstrators occupied Government House and barricaded themselves inside for months. They later seized Don Muang Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airport and closed them for several days, stranding thousands of travelers. At the height of the protests, the PAD declared the only person they would accept as Premier was Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the opposition Democrat Party.[7] The protests ended when the Constitutional Court banned the People's Power Party for corruption. Army commander and co-leader of the 2006 coup, General Anupong Paochinda, pressured several PPP MPs to switch to the Democrat Party, allowing Abhisit to form a government and become Prime Minister.[8] PAD leader Khamnoon Sitthisamarn called Abhisit's premiership a "genuine PAD victory" and a "Anupong-style coup."[9]

Citing the claimed failure of popular democracy in Thailand, Sondhi has suggested constitutional amendments that some members of parliament should be chosen by profession, a proposal that was seen as 'undemocratic' by his opponents.[10][11] Closely affiliated with Queen Sirikit and prominent royalists, Sondhi regularly invoked king Bhumibol Adulyadej in his protests, and has claimed that his enemies are disloyal to the monarchy, aiming at destroying the country's political form.[12][13][14] Sondhi has openly called for the military and Thailand's traditional elite to take a greater role in politics.[15]

Sondhi was born in Sukhothai Province to a Thai Chinese family with ancestry from Hainan. His paternal grandfather was born in Hainan before settling in Sukhothai and marrying a Thai woman. Sondhi’s Thai-born father was sent to study in China and eventually became a Kuomintang army officer after training at Whampoa Military Academy; he later returned to Thailand during the Chinese Communist Revolution and married a Hainan-born woman who was Sondhi’s mother.[16][17][18][19] Sondhi majored in history at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a reporter for the student newspaper, The Daily Bruin, from 1966 to 1969. He received his M.A. degree from Utah State University in 1972.

Returning to Thailand, he worked for the newspaper Prachatipatai (Democracy) as a reporter and managing editor in 1973 and 1974. He wrote several exposés of the political developments that led to the student protests and bloodshed on October 14, 1973, an event which brought down the military government of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn and led to a restoration of democracy.

In 1976, he set up the Advance Media Group with real estate investor Paul Sittiamnuay. The group produced four publications, including a short-lived English-language daily called Business Times (not connected with the current Business Times), with Sondhi as an editor. The newspaper collapsed after Paul Sittiamnuay was investigated over a real estate scandal, went bankrupt and fled the country.

In 1979, Sondhi set up his own company, Karawek, which published a women's magazine, Pooying, from 1980 to 1982.

In 1982, Sondhi established the business monthly Phoojatkarn (Manager), which he produced in a room in his father's house. Phoojatkarn Monthly was soon a success, and four years later Sondhi began a weekly with the same name. He later published a daily newspaper, Phoojadkarn Rai Wan. Phoojatkarn Daily has often been regarded as Sondhi's personal mouthpiece.

Sondhi eventually established a publishing house called the Manager Group (also known as the M Group), as a holding company for his media outlets. Among the companies he purchased were the IT firms SCT and Micronetic, and the handset retailer IEC. IEC was the exclusive handset retailer for Nokia phones, and its major customers were the two rival mobile-phone groups Advanced Info Service, which belonged to future prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Total Access Communication (later known as DTAC).

During this period, Sondhi also expanded into English-language publishing, with an English edition of Manager, the Hong Kong-based monthly Asia Inc, and a regional daily newspaper the Asia Times. He briefly owned a local lifestyle magazine in Los Angeles known as Buzz. Sondhi was characterized in the media as an "Asian Rupert Murdoch," and he hired aggressively, bringing in both Asian and Western journalists. Asia Inc was eventually sold, and went through several ownership changes. It is currently owned by Singapore-based Edge Asia Inc Media Group. The Asia Times folded in 1997, though an online edition, run by some of the paper's former staff, continues to operate Asia Times Online.

Before taking IEC public in 1992, Sondhi allotted a 17.5 per cent stake in the company to Thaksin. Thaksin bought the stake at Bt10 per share. After the listing, IEC's share price shot up to THB 250 each and Thaksin sold out his stake. Sondhi said Thaksin made between THB 600 million to THB 700 million from the IEC float. Sondhi wrote in his book, "One Must Know How To Lose Before Knowing How To Win", that he felt that Thaksin was a free rider and did not want to do business with him.

The Manager Group-led Asia Broadcasting and Communications Network (ABCN) set up its satellite project, Lao Star Co - which was worth about THB 9 billion - as a joint venture with the Laotian government in 1995. Lao Star appointed Space System/Loral to build two L-Star satellites and L-Star 1 was set to officially launch to provide digital direct-to-home TV programmes in 1998. L-Star 2 was to be put into orbit in 1999. The project was planned to serve around 2 billion people in the Asia Pacific region, including India and China. Later ABCN enlisted DTAC's parent, United Communication Industry Plc (Ucom), to back its business.

IEC also provided a bulk of the mobile-phone airtime to DTAC before purchasing the 1800 MHz frequency from DTAC to develop its own mobile-phone operator Wireless Communication Service (WCS). WCS offered the service under the brand Digital 01.

Sondhi expanded and diversified widely. He owned a hotel in China's Yunnan province, ran a cement factory in Vietnam, and set up a regional business conference company. Most of his investments were woven in a complex series of cross-shareholdings. Sondhi himself kept few direct holdings in any of the companies, but was ultimately in control through his ownership of holding companies like M Group and other holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. Such a structure minimized Sondhi's tax bill and provided maximum protection in case of financial difficulties.[20]

In 1996, Fortune magazine had put Sondhi's assets at US$600 million (or THB 12 billion at the exchange-rate of THB 25 to a US dollar). He received an honorary doctorate from Chiang Mai University. He often travelled around Thailand in a chartered personal business jet from Thai Airways and was often seen escorting Chinese movie star Gong Li.[20]

Following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, Sondhi's satellite and publishing businesses faced a meltdown. His WCS was sold to the CP Group before it was renamed TA Orange and later became True Move. The Manager Group was saddled with THB 20 billion in debt but only THB 4 billion in equity. The Manager Group's holding company alone had liabilities of THB 6 billion. Manager Media had Bt4.7 billion in debt. Sondhi was personally in debt for THB 1.5 billion. Sondhi ended up declaring himself bankrupt for three years. This meant that his THB 1.5 billion debt could be claimed from whatever was in his personal account for a span of three years, rather than having to repay the debt over 15 or 20 years as earlier scheduled.

Sondhi's companies were also investigated for irregular inter-company transactions. IEC guaranteed a THB 1.2 billion baht loan by M group in 1996, but never disclosed this guarantee to the public. M Group later defaulted on the loan, sending IEC into bankruptcy[21]

Auditors of Eastern Printing, Sondhi's SET-listed printing company, noted that its huge losses partially stemmed from loans to associated companies and the establishment of off-balance accounts to related publishing companies. For example, in its 2000 financial statement, Sondhi-linked companies Asia Inc and FRYE Smith (USA) Co owed Bt59.86 million and Bt125.79 million respectively to Eastern Printing. Likewise, according to its 2000 financial statements, Manager Media lent Bt1.061 billion to related publishers, under guarantee from Sondhi.[22]

The Manager Group furiously attacked the Democrat-led government over its management of the economic crisis during its time in office from late 1997 to 2000. This included scathing attacks on Finance Minister Tharin Nimmanhaeminda for his emergency financing agreements with the IMF and Deputy Prime Minister Sawit Bhodhivihok for his policy of privatizing the state-owned electricity sector.

Sondhi and other leaders of People's Alliance for Democracy scheduled a massive demonstration against Thaksin on 20 September 2006. In the days preceding the demonstration, rumours spread that the protest would turn bloody. However, on 19 September 2006, the Thai military, led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, overthrew the Thaksin government, dissolved the Parliament, and abrogated the constitution. Thaksin, abroad at the time, was exiled indefinitely, and several members of his Cabinet were summoned for investigation. Sondhi's protest was cancelled, and the PAD later disbanded itself, claiming it was no longer needed.

Sondhi supported the coup, and later went on an international tour through London, Washington DC, and New York to celebrate with the PAD's expatriate supporters.[49] During his trip, he also raised funds for the IPO of his satellite business, and explained that he had spent almost 420 million baht of his own money on the PAD campaign. He later announced that his political focus would be on educating the Thai public on how badly the Thaksin government had run the country. To accomplish this, Sondhi established the Thailand Watch Foundation (Yam Fau Paendin Foundation), a non-profit organization that provides financial support to part of his post-Thaksin efforts. He announced that he would end all of his public roles within five years.

Sondhi took a critical stance against the junta when it appointed a few cabinet members who had previously served as civil servants under the Thaksin government.

He later apologized in court to Chaisit Shinawatra, cousin of Thaksin, for claiming that the Shinawatra and Damapong families had "plundered" the nation, and that all of them were "lower than ****". Chaisit dropped litigation against Sondhi in return for the apology. The court has stated that by accusing a whole family, Sondhi could not be charged, which was an example of Thailand's bizarre legal system.[50]

As a reward for his support, Sondhi was invited by the Council for National Security (the military junta that overthrew Thaksin's government) to air a political commentary show on government-run Channel 11.[51] However, after critics and pressure, Sondhi cancelled his airing program.

Public protests against the junta began in the months after the coup. Sondhi and the People's Alliance for Democracy called the junta to use state-owned news media to "alert" the people to the "evil" of Thaksin Shinawatra and the aim of the demonstrators.[52]

On 27 April 2007, Sondhi claimed on his "Yam Fao Phaendin" (Guard of the Land) TV program that an amendment to the anti-corruption law passed by the National Legislative Assembly had been "stuck" for a month after being submitted for royal endorsement, and suggested the "delay" could be due to family ties between Arsa Sarasin (King Bhumibol's Principal Private Secretary) and Pong Sarasin (his eldest brother, a major shareholder in a company that Sondhi accused of acting as a nominee in the sale of Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings).

The Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary said in a public statement that Arsa had "has no connections whatsoever" with the issue, and that Sondhi made "incorrect allegations" against the royal secretary. "Sondhi's statement indicated that he failed to double-check the facts and had intended to frame and cause damage to Arsa Sarasin and the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary," said a letter sent to Sondhi.[60]

Sondhi issued an apology a few days later, but also publicly warned Arsa that he had no right to use the office of the King's Principal Private Secretary to defend himself in a personal matter. He then accused the King's Principal Private Secretary of speaking with the Attorney General and the Police Commander in order to get charges of lese majeste against Thaksin Shinawatra dropped.[61]

Sondhi was reported to have been the target of an assassination attempt on the morning of 17 April 2009. Gunmen firing M-16 and AK-47 rifles shot out his tires at a petrol station in Bangkok and sprayed over 100 bullets into Sondhi's car, wounding Sondhi and seriously wounding his driver.[62] The attackers escaped the scene when Sondhi's followers in another car opened fire on them. Sondhi suffered one wound to the head but was conscious, standing, and lucid before being sent to the hospital for surgery.[1] Sondhi survived the surgery and was visited by relatives afterwards.

Sondhi's son, Jittanart Limthongkul, blamed factions within the military and the Abhisit government of being behind the assassination attempt:

A new form of war is emerging -- it's being launched by the collusion of certain police and military officers. They are plotting a new coup. It is said that a minister, who is said to be involved in the attempted assassination of a privy councillor, is actively behind this new exercise.[63]

Privy Councillor Charnchai Likitjitta had recently allegedly been the target of an assassination plot. The Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for a close aide to Deputy Prime Minister and senior Democrat Party figure Sanan Kachornprasart, on the grounds that the aide masterminded the alleged assassination attempt on privy councillor Charnchai Likitjitta.[64]

However, foreign minister and former PAD activist Kasit Piromya claimed that Thaksin was behind the assassination attempt:

Thaksin failed on the populist movement and now I think he has resorted to some sort of assassination attempt.[65]

Kasit revealed that he had planned to have lunch with the Sondhi on the day of the attack. Kasit also claimed that himself, Abhisit, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban were planned targets for assassination, and that he was guarded by several fully armed marines.[66][67]

Meanwhile, Thaksin had the following to say:

It's [the Abhisit] government that has been given the license to kill [due to the state of emergency]. And I have the impression that the phase of "cut-off killings" has begun -- in other words, they are eliminating anyone who knows too much about the conspiracy of those in power against me.[68]

Army chief Anupong Paojinda said that the M16 rifle shells found at the scene were issued to the Royal Thai Army's 9th Infantry Division, which is under the First Army Region headquartered in Bangkok. Gen Anupong added that the rounds were from stores used for shooting practice, but that it would be very difficult to narrow down from which unit the ammunition actually came.[69][70]

When questioned about the shooting, Sondhi said that he had "revealed the secrets of a lady who appears close to King Bhumibol" (ผมไปเปิดโปงสุภาพสตรีคนหนึ่ง ซึ่งในภาพแสดงออกว่าเป็นคนใกล้ชิดเบื้องพระยุคลบาท). He did not specify who he was referring to.[71] He also claimed that sources had told him that four of the gunmen had already been "silenced" as of 3 May 2009.[72]

On 7 October 2009. Sondhi has placed all rival political parties on notice following his election as the new leader of the New Politics Party and also elected the party's 25 executives, by about 2,300 out of some 8,900 members of the party gathered at the Thunderdome stadium at Muang Thong Thani.[73] While interim leader Somsak Kosaisuuk, withdrew their respective nominations to pave way for Sondhi's victory.

Among the elected executives are Somsak as deputy party leader, Suriyasai Katasila as secretary-general, Pratheep Chuenarom as treasurer and Samran Rodphet as spokesman. Apart from the executive board, the party also unveiled its team of advisors which include Sompong Sujaritkul, Chai-Anan Samudavanija, Udon Tontisunthorn, Sompoj Piyaui, Pipob Thongchai, Parnthep Puvanartnurak, Samart Sotesatit, Arthit Urairat, Pichai Ratanadilok, Suwinai Pornvalai, Chavin Leenabanjong, Sombat Bensirimongkol, Prayoon Akrabavorn, Ammarin Korma and Somsak Ismanyee. Then Sondhi stated that the conference marks a new chapter for the Thai politics, and also claims that the NPP and the PAD are one of the same, the PAD can no longer take on the streets to protest do not understand the fundamental of democracy as the NPSP is merely an instrumental of the PAD, the sacrifices of the PAD must be passed on to the party's cause. Therefore, party members, leader, executive members and MPs must also sacrifice for their belief. The PAD has been beaten, shot at and have bombs thrown at but they did not give up because they have faith.[74]

Lastly, Sondhi claimed that they are not looking to challenge other political parties. They are only challenging themselves to bring on the new politics through honesty, bravery, and diligence to bring change to the Thai society for the future generation.[75]

On 28 February 2012, Sondhi was convicted by a Bangkok Criminal Court of violating the Securities and Exchange Act by falsifying documents to secure a multimillion-dollar loan for his media empire, a case dating back to the 1990s. He was handed the maximum sentence possible.

The Security and Exchange Commission accused him of falsifying documents used as collateral for a loan amounting to almost 1.1bn baht ($36m, £22.7m) for his media business.[76] Sondhi pleaded guilty but was freed on bail pending an appeal against the sentence.[77]

On 6 September 2016, the Supreme Court of Thailand ruled that he, with other three executives of the Manager Media Group Co. he founded, must serve the 20 years in prison sentence ruled by the Appeals Court in 2012. The sentence, according to the Supreme Court, will not be suspended. In the same morning, after the verdict, Sondhi Limthongkul was sent to prison.[4] He was released from jail early on 4 September 2019 on royal pardon.[5]

On 1 October 2013, Sondhi was declared guilty of lèse majesté for quoting remarks made by an opponent protesting the 2008 resumption of PAD protests.[78] The appeals court in so doing reversed a lower court acquittal (Thailand has no bar to double jeopardy) handed down on 26 September 2012. The lèse majesté had resulted from Sondhi's having quoted remarks made Daranee Chanchoengsilpakul.[79] Daranee "Da Torpedo" was sentenced in April 2009 to 18 years in prison without suspension for "intending to insult" Bhumibol and Sirikit.[80] "Da Torpedo" had not actually mentioned the monarchs, but had criticized, among other things, the "ruling class." The court in 2009 had held that the prosecution had "brought evidence that makes it possible to interpret that the defendant meant the King and Queen Sirikit."[81] The 2013 ruling reversing Sondhi's 2012 acquittal upholds prosecution for whatever words Sondhi had quoted, but for much less than "18 years in prison without suspension." Sondhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment for defaming the monarchy, then released after posting 500,000 baht ($15,935) in bail.

• Muangthai Raisabdah
• Media in Thailand
• Sondhi may face legal action from Thai Rak Thai party. Wikinews, February 12, 2006
• Sondhi continues using Thailand Weekly show to attack PM. Wikinews, January 14, 2006
• Thai PM sues media critic for one billion Baht. Wikinews, November 17, 2005
• Thai political talk show taken off air. Wikinews, September 15, 2005

• Asiaweek.com, "Sondhi's Times"
• ManagerOnline Web site
• Thai news about predicting dolloars failure Archived 2005-11-28 at the Wayback Machine from the ManagerOnline Web
• ManagerOnline Web statistics from Truehits.net
• Asia Inc
• Asia Times Online
• Sondhi Limthongkul on CNN | audio clip
• The Good Old Days
• Pro-democracy movement support for the coup Archived 2007-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
• Speech by Sondi and Kraisak Chunhawan Given at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (in RealMedia format)
• whoswho-thailand.com page for Sondhi Limthongkul Archived 2013-12-09 at the Wayback Machine