Appeal Court upholds 3-year jail term for ex-minister Benja

By THE NATION

 

Benja Louichareon

 

Former deputy finance minister and 4 others helped Thaksin’s children evade paying taxes on shin corp shares sale.

THE COURT of appeals has upheld a lower court’s three-year jail sentence for Benja Louichareon, a former deputy finance minister, who abused her authority to help Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra evade income taxes.

 

Benja and three other former Revenue Department officials and an aide were not released yesterday and had to spend the night in a temporary detention centre awaiting their bid for the Supreme Court to review the case. Besides Benja, three other former officials – Chamras Yaemsoithong, Molirat Bunyasiri, and Krit Vipulanusas – as well as Pranee Vejpuekpitak, an aide to Khunying Pojaman Na Prompet’s secretary, were found guilty in the case.

 

The two children of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra sold shares of Shin Corp but did not pay taxes with Benja’s help, according to the verdict.

 

Benja, who was deputy finance minister of the Yingluck Shinawatra government, was ruled guilty along with four other persons who were former senior officials of the Revenue Department.

 

As a former deputy chief of the Revenue Department, Benja violated Article 157 of the Criminal Code causing damages to the state.

 

The National Anti-Corruption Commission filed the charges against Benja and other persons who allegedly helped Panthongtae and Pinthongta to evade taxes on the sale of Shin shares in 2006.

 

Each of them purchased 164 million shares at Bt1 each and sold them at the market price of Bt49.25 per share. They should have paid income taxes amounting to Bt7.9 billion each. 

 

The lower court ruled in July 2016 that Benja and three other persons were guilty and sentenced them to a three-year jail term.

 

The appeal court said in a statement upholding the lower court’s verdict that there are no grounds for a suspended jail term. Individuals can forward their case to the Supreme Court for a final review if there are issues related to facts of the case and of one of the judges of the appeal court endorses their bid.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30329695

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-10-20

Persecution knows no bounds with the current corrupt inept who hold the reigns at this time, in years to come I hope the reverse will apply

1 hour ago, wakeupplease said:

Persecution knows no bounds with the current corrupt inept who hold the reigns at this time, in years to come I hope the reverse will apply

Persecution ?, If they broke the law by helping others evade paying taxes,

they deserve a prison time.

regards worgeordie

Better to kill an innocent by mistake than spare an enemy by mistake

 

Pol Pot

22 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Persecution ?, If they broke the law by helping others evade paying taxes,

they deserve a prison time.

regards worgeordie

You are an 'innocent' dear worgeordie this is 'cleaning' time

 

These are Military Junta Courts

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The appeal court said in a statement upholding the lower court’s verdict that there are no grounds for a suspended jail term

pitiful this is even a consideration; bet if the reds were still relevant, the case would end in these suspended sentences

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Bt7.9 billion

I wonder how much she received from this sum of lost tax?  Remember it is multiplied by TWO for the son and daughter.

12 hours ago, wakeupplease said:

Persecution knows no bounds with the current corrupt inept who hold the reigns at this time, in years to come I hope the reverse will apply

 

So you think it's o k for children of the politicians to avoid billions in taxes with the help and facilitation of a deputy Finance Minister and Revenue officials?

 

Your idea of justice seems rather warped.

 

The real question his how come the Shin kids haven't been charged, just the people who organized the tax evasion for them?

22 hours ago, wakeupplease said:

Persecution knows no bounds with the current corrupt inept who hold the reigns at this time, in years to come I hope the reverse will apply

B15.8 billion stolen from the people of Thailand. And all you want to do is suck up to the poor persecuted Shinawatras.