Somchai Khunpluem

Somchai Khunpluem, alternatively spelled Kunplome (; 30 September 1937 – 17 June 2019), He was also known by the nickname "Kamnan Poh"(, "subdistrict headman Poh"). Highly influential in his home province of Chonburi and the whole eastern region, he was dubbed "godfather of Chonburi" or "godfather of the east" by Thai media. Somchai was long-term mayor of Saen Suk, Mueang Chonburi District.

Life, business, and political career Somchai was born as the son of a village headman, the second of eight siblings. He dropped out of school after grade four and started working as a teenager. He began as a restaurant bus boy before starting his own bus service. After some time as a monk and as a soldier, he became the partner of a French businessman active in the fishing industry in 1963. The national government started to develop the eastern seaboard as an industrial region in the 1980s. Somchai became a key intermediary between the central government and multinational and local investors. This spurred the rise of his economic and political influence which he, in turn, used to provide for a further boost of the urban and industrial development of his home province. In 1989, Saen Suk (which includes the much frequented beach resort of Bang Saen) received the status of a municipality and Somchai, as the only candidate, became its first mayor. After the Thai Nation Party, which Somchai supported, won the national election in 1995 and its leader Banharn Silpa-archa became prime minister, he was often rewarded with government contracts. The combined assets of the Khunpluem and Sancharoen families were estimated on four billion baht in 2004. Without holding a high office, he was considered one of the most influential political figures of Thailand until 2004. Whichever party he supported usually won most of the electoral districts of Chonburi Province. By financially supporting parties and candidates, he controlled up to 20 seats in the Thai House of Representatives. They were sentenced to 25 years in jail by the criminal court in June 2004. Pending appeal proceedings, Somchai was set free on terms of a ten million baht bail. He was arrested on 30 January 2013 on his way to a hospital in Bangkok's Pattanakarn area.

Family Somchai was the father of Sontaya Kunplome,