Ex-high Ranking Revenue Officials Acquitted For Negligence

[george]

Ex-high ranking Revenue officials acquitted for negligence

BANGKOK: -- Criminal Court on Thursday acquitted former high-ranking Revenue officials who were charted of negligence in their dealings with tax evasion that involved relatives of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Court said the defendants just did their duties as revenue department officials.

The defendants were ex-Revenue chief Sirote Sawatpanit, and other ex-senior officials which included Wichai Juengrakiart, Sujinda Saengchompoo and Moreerat Boonyasiri.

-- The Nation 2009-02-26

[PhilHarries]

Surely if they "did their duties as revenue department officials" they would have collected the revenues due? Thus there would have been no tax evasion.

[PeaceBlondie]

Nah. If Thaksin's legislative cronies and cabinet members made it legal to steal all of Thailand, then there was no revenue to collect. Gee, I wish I could have been that negligent when I was a revenue service employee.

[Scott]

But PB, you probably were that negligent--at least in the eyes of a lot of us. We have a lot of people who legally avoid paying taxes, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the gov't doesn't agree with me, so they don't have to pay, and the revenue officer doesn't have to collect them!

Same same Thailand!

[PeaceBlondie]

Scott, legal tax avoidance is legal. Evasion is differently defined as illegal. I spent a career chasing illegal deductions and unreported income. Thaksin's thugs (I call them that now since I live in his land of thugs, Chiang Mai) made it legal to steal all of Thailand.

[PhilHarries]

But it is odd that in the UK people who are prosecuted for tax evasion or fraud get public sympathy whilst those who get done for benefits fraud are vilified as cheats and scum despite the fact that, by comparison and proportionally speaking, their crime is insignificant.

<edit : forgot to add that at the end of the day it is the same crime. Stealing money from the public coffers.>

[Plus]

I'm sure Oldmanriver will be relieved at this news as he has always defended Sirote on TV.

Legally, he probably produced enough pages from a rule book to justify his actions.

The man has been publicly humiliated, that's punishment enough. Let him retire in peace.

[samgrowth]

Scott, legal tax avoidance is legal. Evasion is differently defined as illegal. I spent a career chasing illegal deductions and unreported income. Thaksin's thugs (I call them that now since I live in his land of thugs, Chiang Mai) made it legal to steal all of Thailand.

So Thaksin has already legalised it. Why should he still need to pay tax?

[Plus]

Finally I've seen some details of the ruling.

At least one point looks very suspicious and prosecutors might have a field day with it if they appeal.

The court ruled that there were no lapse of duty because it wasn't Sirote's duty to collect taxes himself, he merely gave advice. So, since it wasn't his duty, there couldn't be no lapse of it.

Funny argument - the Revenue Dept boss, the boss for the whole country, issues "advice" not to collect taxes from Prime Minister's wife, and now it's some lowly clerk on 5,000 baht salary that carries the burden of the "duty" and so potentially designated as a fall guy.

I don't care about Sirote's fate at the moment, it's just an interesting legal twist here that needs to be addressed.

[Old Man River]

Finally I've seen some details of the ruling.

At least one point looks very suspicious and prosecutors might have a field day with it if they appeal.

The court ruled that there were no lapse of duty because it wasn't Sirote's duty to collect taxes himself, he merely gave advice. So, since it wasn't his duty, there couldn't be no lapse of it.

Funny argument - the Revenue Dept boss, the boss for the whole country, issues "advice" not to collect taxes from Prime Minister's wife, and now it's some lowly clerk on 5,000 baht salary that carries the burden of the "duty" and so potentially designated as a fall guy.

I don't care about Sirote's fate at the moment, it's just an interesting legal twist here that needs to be addressed.

How the court describes it in English is irrelevant. The key point is that the Thai Revenue Dept.'s officials, who were indicted under the coup, have been given a fair trial by the criminal court system and exonerated. The judges have had access to all the facts and were not swayed by politics.

Note, this is the same court whose decisions against Thaksin many on TV and around the world have regaled in. The courts have again shown their ability to put aside politics and give a fair opinion based on real facts, not political accusations. They should be given accolades for objectively performing their jobs and not accused of providing "funny" arguments.

[Plus]

The argument is funny on its own.

If you think you can explain it, please do so.

At this point it looks like the boss got off scott free partly because he wasn't directly assigned to the case and his "advice" shouldn't have had any effect on his lowly subordinates decisions. That's just ridiculous. How can any subordinate tax the Prime Minister's wife against advice of the Rev Dept chief? That's just suicide.

There were other points, too, but this one, about no lapse of duty, needs to be clarified.

And no, extolling the virtues of the court and its apolitical history doesn't explain this point at all.

[BigSnake]

Ex-high ranking official, with high ranking friends in the right place(a high ranking position) at the right time, need I say more.

[ratcatcher]

Since this topic is related to "justice" or lack of, I thought this article in THE NATION Feb 28th was relevant.

Ex-post-officeman gets 50 years

By The Nation

Published on February 28, 2009

The Criminal Court yesterday sentenced a former post office official to 50 years in jail for embezzling nearly Bt300,000.

Komkrit "Soranat" Wongsasing took Bt299,674 from 24 money orders between November 16, 2000 and March 2, 2001 when processing money orders at Dusit Post Office.

Komkrit, 32, has returned the money to Cat Telecom, which organises money orders via post offices.

"I was too young to realise I was doing wrong. I was worried about taking care of my elderly parents," he said.

Because Komkrit pleaded guilty, the court commuted his sentence from 100 years.

He was convicted of abuse of authority and corruption.

Komkrit was arrested on November 18 last year.

It is well known that in Thailand, the lesser the crime, combined with the lower the rank, the more severe is the punishment.

100 years for nicking B300,000 which has since been returned by the accused.

Commuted to 50 years because he pleaded guilty.

If it wasn't so sad, it would be hilarious.

Thaksin gets 2 years for ripping off millions nay, billions and this guy basically loses his life to jail.

Totally mad, totally pathetic!

[Old Man River]

The argument is funny on its own.

If you think you can explain it, please do so.

At this point it looks like the boss got off scott free partly because he wasn't directly assigned to the case and his "advice" shouldn't have had any effect on his lowly subordinates decisions. That's just ridiculous. How can any subordinate tax the Prime Minister's wife against advice of the Rev Dept chief? That's just suicide.

There were other points, too, but this one, about no lapse of duty, needs to be clarified.

And no, extolling the virtues of the court and its apolitical history doesn't explain this point at all.

As you are aware, it is against the law to question a court's decision once it has been rendered. As such, I make my comments prior to a court's decision and post decision I refrain from further comments. I trust that the judges understood the legal arguments presented and ruled accordingly.

As it relates to this case in general, this file was on Sirote's desk waiting for him when he first arrived. This was more than 10 years ago and was prior even to the formation of the TRT Party. The Revenue Department was completely unaware that years later the tax fraud would occur. The file given to Sirote contained the Legal Department's analysis which supported approval being given. The legal department based their analysis on what they thought was the right decision at that time and at no time did the court find any evidence that anyone in the Revenue Department benefited from this decision. Nobody in the Revenue Department benefited from this decision.

Anyone who has ever run a company knows full well that at times hard decisions have to be made. You make these decisions based on the information available at that time. Years later, with 20-20 hindsight, you may make a different decision, but that does not mean it was a wrong decision at the time you made it.

[Sisaketmike]

Ex-high ranking Revenue officials acquitted for negligence

BANGKOK: -- Criminal Court on Thursday acquitted former high-ranking Revenue officials who were charted of negligence in their dealings with tax evasion that involved relatives of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Court said the defendants just did their duties as revenue department officials.

The defendants were ex-Revenue chief Sirote Sawatpanit, and other ex-senior officials which included Wichai Juengrakiart, Sujinda Saengchompoo and Moreerat Boonyasiri.

-- The Nation 2009-02-26

Welcome to the jungle. There's not much to say......please wait a minute. There's a band called Lynard Skynard. One of their songs could explain what's going on : Can't you smell that smell, the smell turns around you.........

[Old Man River]

Ex-high ranking Revenue officials acquitted for negligence

BANGKOK: -- Criminal Court on Thursday acquitted former high-ranking Revenue officials who were charted of negligence in their dealings with tax evasion that involved relatives of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Court said the defendants just did their duties as revenue department officials.

The defendants were ex-Revenue chief Sirote Sawatpanit, and other ex-senior officials which included Wichai Juengrakiart, Sujinda Saengchompoo and Moreerat Boonyasiri.

-- The Nation 2009-02-26

Welcome to the jungle. There's not much to say......please wait a minute. There's a band called Lynard Skynard. One of their songs could explain what's going on : Can't you smell that smell, the smell turns around you.........

Actually, one of my favorite songs, but it would be much more appropriate for Thaksin's war on drugs given the song relates to drug related deaths. It has nothing to do with a court's decision based on legal facts presented.

Also, I have missed the significance of the photos of the motorcycles. What do they have to do with the court case?