Appeals Court upholds jail term for ex-banker

BANGKOK, Jan 26 (TNA) - Thailand's Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the Criminal Court verdict on former Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) president Krirkkiat Jalichandra to 10 years imprisonment and fines amounting to more than Bt2.2 billion in the embezzlement case involving the collapsed Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC).

Mr Krirkkiat was sentenced in 2005 to 10 years in jail and fined Bt2.2 million over the case.

The Court of Appeals upheld the verdict, affirming the 10-year jail term and a fine of Bt2.264 billion. The ex-banker was also ordered to pay compensation to the BBC for Bt1.132 billion.

For another five defendants, the court upheld the verdict of some defendents, some getting lighter sentences and some facing heavier sentence.

Mr Krirkkiat, who said he is suffering from lung cancer, had petitioned the Appeals Court in November 2009 to postpone the verdict to late January because he had to undergo radiation therapy.

The defendant appeared at the Court with a weary appearance and wears a mask on his face as he was being treated for lung cancer.

The Office of the Attoney General and the BBC filed a lawsuit against six defendants. Including Mr Krirkkiat, bank former assistant president Ekkachai Athikhomnantha, former BBC appraisal officer Piset Panitsombat, City Trading Corp and two City Trading Corp directors, Sunantha Harnworakiat and Terry Easter.

They are accused of embezzling Bt1.657 billion from BBC through the City Trading Corp.

The lawsuit states that from Feb 10 to July 20, 1995, Mr Krirkkiat approved a Bt1.657 billion in loans to City Trading Corp. The loan amount well exceeded the Bt30 million lending ceiling set by the Bank of Thailand. Collateral for the loan was also appraised above the market price.

Mr Piset and Mr Easter did not appear in court and the court had already issue arrest warants since they also miss the verdict reading in Criminal Court last year.

After the ruling, Mr Krirkkiat submitted cash and title deeds totally worth Bt25 million as security to release him pending for submitting the case to the Supreme Court. The Court later allowed to temporarily free the former banker but has barred him from going abroad.

-- TNA 2010-01-26

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A similar crime to what Raluek Leekpai (Chuan Leekpai's brother) allegedly committed before fleeing to Taiwan and there he remained a fugitive until the statute of limitations expired.

Is it just me or do there seem to be a number of relatively high profile anti-corruption cases lately?

Is it a concerted effort by the government to stamp out corruption or merely window dressing? It does create an interesting context for the Thaksin verdict next month. One thing that is common with all of these cases, however, is that sentences get handed down but these criminals never ever seem to spend any time in prison...due process? yes, punishment? no..justice? not really.

Is it just me or do there seem to be a number of relatively high profile anti-corruption cases lately?

Well the southern most Monthol is simply following the edicts of the rulers to the north to get tough on corruption.

From OP:

The Office of the Attoney General and the BBC filed a lawsuit against six defendants. Including Mr Krirkkiat, bank former assistant president Ekkachai Athikhomnantha, former BBC appraisal officer Piset Panitsombat, City Trading Corp and two City Trading Corp directors, Sunantha Harnworakiat and Terry Easter.

and what happened/happens to the others ?

"In June 1996, Thai authorities charged Saxena, Krikkiat Jalichandre, Oleg Boiko, Rajan Pillai and Adnan Khashoggi and number of other people for embezzling money estimated to be worth $US2.2 billion (or according to other estimates, $US88 million). Saxena himself had allegedly siphoned off £300 million in 1992-1993 through a string of derivative transactions. Saxena said that he was just an advisor and a trader and that the collapse of the real estate markets was the real trigger of the recession. His relationship with Russian tycoons and Arab sheikhs continues to be a subject of speculation."

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakesh_Saxena...ank_of_Commerce

We know about Rakesh Saxena, now is Thai custody, but what about the others?

LaoPo