Thailand sentences former national tourism leader 50 years in jail
Hanoi (VNA) – Former head
of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Juthamas Siriwan on March 29 was sentenced
to 50 years in prison for receiving 1.8 million USD in bribery to hand the
right of hosting a film festival in Bangkok to three US companies 10 years ago.
Thailand’s Central Court for Corruption
also sentenced her daughter 44 years in jail for assisting the transferring of bribery
money to overseas bank accounts.
The bribery money was also
seized. The bosses of the American companies were also sentenced six months in
prison.
The court also refused the
bailout of 29,000 USD each person by lawyers of the accused.
Proceedings against the case
commenced in August 2015 at the recommendation of State prosecutors.
According to the indictment, the
former TAT leader received bribery 59 times from US business couple Gerald and
Patricia Green from 2002 to 2007 to award their three companies the right to
organise the Bangkok International Film Festival, which returned a profit of
13.5 million USD.
The couple are in jail in the
United States for their involvement in a ring fraudulently mobilising capital.
Juthamas denied the accusation
while her daughter said 1.8 million USD was the revenue from business
activities with a US businessman, which was denied by the court.
The National Anti-Corruption
Committee (NACC) will be responsible for recovering the case’s illegal assets
of up to 1.9 million USD, which is deposited overseas.
Earlier, Juthamas had been investigated
by the NACC for becoming rich abnormally after leaving the role as TAT leader.
According to the NACC, the case
will be submitted to the Attorney General of Thailand to seek measures to recover
illegal assets.
According to the investigation of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Ministry of Justice, the bribery
money was transferred to bank accounts in five countries and territories namely
the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Jersey State of the US, and
Switzerland.-VNA