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Pridiyathorn Devakula:
'Only a guilty conscience can stop me.
That's not healthy.' |
PRIDIYATHORN DEVAKULA HAS an important ambition. He wants
the law changed to curb his own powers. He leans forward and
explains animatedly: "I am so powerful. I look at the law and I can
do anything. Only a guilty conscience can stop me. That's not
healthy."
Anything? Such as what? Sack all the staff? Steal all the money?
He continues: "I can bet with my reserves any time. Nobody can stop
me. They can fire me, but sometimes firing is too late. I hate a
situation where one man is so powerful that nobody can stop him."
Pridiyathorn is the governor of the Bank of Thailand, whose
reserves fell almost as low as $2 billion in the panic to prop up
the baht during the 1997 financial crisis. The Thai authorities
have launched a suit against the then central bank...
