With each passing week, details of the luxury watches worn by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, as shown in pictures taken over a number of years, have been a continual presence in the news following relentless sleuthing by the CSI LA Facebook page. The timepiece saga has raised many questions about the ethics and credibility of this government.
Gen Prawit, who was instrumental in helping the regime come to power, now seems to be stuck in a quagmire that he should have known how to avoid.
Not too long ago, Gen Prawit and people he backed were on the streets of Bangkok calling for the downfall of an elected government that was accused of corruption. Eventually, the protesters had their way as a military coup ousted the administration in May 2014.
Some members of the ousted government went through years of investigation and court trials. Eventually, a verdict was handed down that found former premier Yingluck Shinawatra guilty of failing to curtail corruption despite the opposition warning her about this in parliament. Yingluck paid the price for not replacing those ministers who were accused of being involved in corruption.
Nearly four years later, the regime leader coupled with junta-appointed parliamentarians, or members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), have not exerted similar pressure on Gen Prawit to come clean on the watch scandal.
This week, Gen Prawit came out to say the 25 watches he has been photographed wearing, which are worth nearly 40 million baht, were borrowed from friends. Nobody knows who these friends are or why would they lend him such expensive timepieces to wear.
Generally speaking, would the sharing of luxury watches, cars, houses or any other expensive item not be considered a form of bribery?
Gen Prawit insisted he would step down from office if and when the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) finds he has committed wrongdoing. The agency said it would wrap up its probe into the case by the end of this month.
The public remains sceptical over whether the scandal is a case of asset concealment or unusual wealth, but Gen Prawit should have stepped down from both positions he holds in order to facilitate the probe.
The person who ought to have dealt with the matter is Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. But the premier has adopted a two-track approach of either distancing himself from the scandal or defending his "big brother".
The NLA members whom Gen Prayut and Gen Prawit handpicked to act as parliamentarians have also failed to do their job of scrutinising the scandal and grilling the deputy prime minister about it. The NLA which, since its inception, has acted as a rubber stamp parliament, seems to be cementing that notion by not taking any action against Gen Prawit.
NACC president Pol Gen Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, a former deputy-secretary-general of Gen Prawit's, continues to investigate his former boss. But the general public seem to have already lost faith in the way the military regime operates and has questioned the integrity of the anti-graft agency over its half-hearted response to the issue.
Many of the people who backed the military in seizing power four years ago are also now questioning how transparent Gen Prawit has been.
As long as the prime minister and the NLA remain aloof from the luxury watch scandal and take no action against Gen Prawit, the regime will find it hard to gain support if it attempts to return to power in a new incarnation as a political party during the next general election.
Gen Prayut needs to take drastic action and excise the tumour before the cancer spreads and kills off both the legitimacy of his regime and his bid to become a non-elected prime minister.