by Boocity » Thu Jun 03, 2004 1:29 pm
Thai PM cooler on lottery funds for Liverpool stake bid
Thu 3 June, 2004 13:01
BANGKOK, June 3 (Reuters) - Faced with growing public discontent, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra appeared to be backing away on Thursday from a plan to finance his bid for a stake in English club Liverpool by a one-off national lottery.
"We will choose any other ways which are best for us, which have the least problems," the telecoms-tycoon turned politician told reporters.
Although his 4.6 billion baht ($113 million) bid for a 30 percent stake in Liverpool went down well with the football-mad Thai public, the mood soured when it emerged he would be using public money rather than his vast personal fortune.
Academics have also questioned the legality of the purchase, saying it breaks an article of Thailand's 1997 constitution banning the state from becoming involved in private enterprise.
With opinion polls suggesting Thaksin misjudged the public's willingness to enter the lottery, some students also launched a petition against the unorthodox fund-raiser, saying it would promote gambling among the poor.
Each ticket for the lottery, which would have come with a whopping one billion baht ($24.57 million) jackpot, was to have cost 1,000 baht ($25) -- a sizeable sum for the average Thai.
"We thought that the poor would not be interested in spending 1,000 baht for this and that only the well-to-do would buy them. We actually don't want money from the poor," Thaksin said.
"It may not be one billion baht," he said of the first prize in a comment which suggested the lottery idea was not yet dead. "One billion could spawn greed and desire. It may encourage the poor to borrow."
Public Health Minister and close Thaksin aide Sudarat Keyuraphan said the Liverpool bid, which is now at the 'due diligence' financial scrutiny stage, would go ahead with a different method of funding.
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