Thai Policeman Guilty - Gets Life In Prison

[chuchok]

I think no one will pay 5000 baht in the first place.

I also think that the Nigerians would not be stupid enough to attack a policeman whether hes in jail or not.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dunno...some of those Nigerians have no fear.Put enough $$$ in front of them and who knows what might happen.

[Donno]

Those people who want to keep it on the radar screen also need to check and make sure it's actually him in jail. A couple of years back there was some lady who paid someone else to serve her time--anybody remember that case?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes the chap made a career out of it but unfortunately died in prison - a surrogate prisoner.

[Khun Larry]

woh woh woh guys... hold on a F... second... i read the first 5 posts... but it didn't say why this thai guy killed the couple ... it just talked about the dead it was blamed on him for..? what? i can understand the illegal weapons...but if he hadnt killed anybody, they wouldn't have known he had weapons in the first place! ... so what drove this man to kill this 'innocent' people? what did they do at the restaurant? what did they say? ... if it has been said, i sorry, i didn't see the post...my bad...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As you stated above "innocent people". Why he did it would be interresting to know but there is nothing they could have done at the restaurant that would justify him murdering these tourists.

The "cop" is a savage murdering piece of shit.

[thaigold]

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

I am offering just one snapshot of business in Thailand. The murder case I present was solved and the mastermind was identified and bailed. Yet this scum still remains free, eight years later.

Rather than waste the time typing just visit the following sites:

http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_13/b3622143.htm

This Business Week site is of particular interest.

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/99/0409/feat8.html

A sample; from the CATO Institute:

“I also saw the dead hand in Nakhon Sawan Province, in Thailand, about 120 miles north of Bangkok, where Michael Wansley, a 58?year?old Australian accountant with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, was killed for his excessive scrutiny into the seamy world of crony capitalism. When the Asian financial crisis hit and Thailand's economy imploded under a mountain of bad debts, Wansley and his firm took a leading role in cleanup efforts.

In particular, in early 1999, a Thai bankruptcy court appointed him to supervise the debt restructuring of Kaset Thai Sugar Company and two affiliated mills. The three companies, all of which were controlled by the Siriviriyakul family, owed creditors a combined $450 million. The court?ordered restructuring was seen as a test of Thailand's bankruptcy process.

At Kaset Thai, Wansley apparently uncovered evidence of massive fraud. According to police reports, factory managers had been looting the company, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and shifting the funds to shell companies or private bank accounts. On March 10, 1999, Wansley and four colleagues headed up to the sugar mill, near the small town of Takhli. As their black Toyota minivan neared the factory gate, a motorcycle pulled up alongside them, and a gunman seated on the back shot Wansley eight times at close range. He died instantly. (Not one Thai died in this assassination.)

Police eventually apprehended five suspects: the driver of the motorcycle, the man who supplied the motorcycle, two mid?level factory managers, and Pradit Siriviriyakul, one of the mill's owners and the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy. The driver was quickly convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but the actual gunman has never been apprehended, and the prosecution of the other accused plotters has turned into a total fiasco. A year into the murder trial, only two of 50 planned witnesses had yet to testify

.

Meanwhile, Pradit, the alleged ringleader, is free on bail, amid allegations that the judge who granted him bail received a half?million?dollar bribe from him. The judge was actually removed from office, following a Justice Ministry investigation, but the bail was not revoked, and Pradit remains at large. The trial is still proceeding at a glacial pace, and is expected to drag on through much or all of 2002.

Meanwhile, the restructuring of Kaset Thai and its sister mills sputtered as well. After Wansley's death, his firm presented creditors with debt restructuring plans for the three companies. The proposals called for a thorough housecleaning, a near total write?off of the debt and of the firm's capital, and replacement of the firm's management. But small creditors, mostly sugar growers, were afraid that if this plan were approved, they would never get any of their money back, and so they were opposed.

Although major creditors, including one French bank and several large Thai banks, held 83 percent of Kaset Thai's outstanding debt, Thai bankruptcy law at the time ?? it has subsequently been changed ?? held that at least 50 percent of creditors, by number, had to approve the restructuring plan. Small creditors had the strength of numbers, and so they vetoed the plan by a vote of 2,910 to 63. Faced with this impasse, the bankruptcy court could have ordered the firms liquidated, but instead it simply terminated court supervision of the matter altogether, leaving the Siriviriyakul family still in charge and creditors to try all over again to reach some kind of accommodation.

Finally, in June 2000, the bank settled on a much more modest deal. They agreed simply to stretch out repayment periods for 10 years. No debt write?offs, no write?down of capital. And although the banks gained the right to appoint representatives to the management team, the Siriviriyakul family retained ultimate control.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in November of 2000, I set out with a friend to retrace Michael Wansley's fateful last trip. Finding the sugar mill wasn't easy. It is hidden at the end of a maze of progressively deteriorating roads that snake and tangle their way off the main highway and through rice paddies, scrub brush and sugarcane fields. There was only one beaten?up, discolored sign, in Thai only of course that offered any guidance along the way. After stopping more than a few times to ask for directions, we cut off on to one more bumpy dirt road that cut through chest?high brush on either side. And just as we were convinced that we had made yet another wrong turn, the mill loomed into view.

Somewhere along that road, I thought, Michael Wansley had been murdered. On the day I visited, there was no evidence of the violence and horror of that time. Everything was drowsy and peaceful. A few chickens and roosters strutted back and forth across the road, and a couple of guards lounged behind the factory's shuttered gate. The factory itself was closed. It is open only a couple of months a year, right after the sugarcane harvest. The only break in the silence was, eerily enough, the sound of a motorcyclist, who buzzed up and down the road repeatedly.

Along that far?away, out?of?the?way dirt road, the lie was put to all the blather about the triumph of footloose capital and the tyranny of Western finance. The Wansley case shows vividly that, at Kaset Thai Sugar Company at least, the dead hand of crony capitalism still clings tenaciously to power. The company saga offers an especially egregious example of the breakdowns in investor protection that are all too common in much of the developing world: the looting of minority shareholders, the lack of transparency, and the unworkable bankruptcy procedures. As long as these breakdowns remain common, the term "emerging markets" will simply evoke nostalgia for the naive 1990's, as opposed to describing any current or future state of affairs.”

This note is not meant in any way to denigrate the business opportunities here in the Kingdom. It is all very doable. Please read this and do a quick study on the two links I posted. Although this example may appear to be a bit in the extreme, it illustrates the Thai mind set as far as we Farangs are concerned, and our position in the Thai constellation. It also shows, vividly, that a Thai will never admit they could possibly be wrong. If they won’t admit it to their own; they certainly will not admit it to a Farang.

Michael, gone, but not forgotten.

[The_Moog]

so what drove this man to kill this 'innocent' people?

Possibly....

Seems as though they were all getting along well, photos, smiles etc.

Much alcohol was drunk.

Some perceived slight may have taken place which led to the two men squaring off against each other - being all butch, .....you know what men are like.

Perhaps blows exchanged - a gob in the face.

Off Duty Policeman goes ballistic - pi$$ed of course, and blows his cork in the classic way - once the boundaries of jai yen are transcended. (A cultural nicety unknown to Adam)

The gun comes out, gets waved around .....Adam probably thinks this is a tough guy gambit, doesn't back down.

Shots fired ....UK boy dying

Girlfriend runs off Somchai thinks,...'ok I have to pop the witness'

...does so

Flees the scene. Returns to face the music later.

[cobra]

This is as I expected, (and predicted in earlier posts),

Hopefully he'll serve most of this sentence but I suspect it will be less than life.

Of course he has to survive prison and compete with the rest of the animals already in there. ...

[Heng]

This note is not meant in any way to denigrate the business opportunities here in the Kingdom. It is all very doable.  Please read this and do a quick study on the two links I posted. Although this example may appear to be a bit in the extreme, it illustrates the Thai mind set as far as we Farangs are concerned, and our position in the Thai constellation. It also shows, vividly, that a Thai will never admit they could possibly be wrong. If they won’t admit it to their own; they certainly will not admit it to a Farang.

It also shows vividly that you can get shot for raising your voice here to the wrong people.

[Khun Larry]

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

Along that far?away, out?of?the?way dirt road, the lie was put to all the blather about the triumph of footloose capital and the tyranny of Western finance.  The Wansley case shows vividly that, at Kaset Thai Sugar Company at least, the dead hand of crony capitalism still clings tenaciously to power.  The company saga offers an especially egregious example of the breakdowns in investor protection that are all too common in much of the developing world:  the looting of minority shareholders, the lack of transparency, and the unworkable bankruptcy procedures.  As long as these breakdowns remain common, the term "emerging markets" will simply evoke nostalgia for the naive 1990's, as opposed to describing any current or future state of affairs.”

This note is not meant in any way to denigrate the business opportunities here in the Kingdom. It is all very doable.  Please read this and do a quick study on the two links I posted. Although this example may appear to be a bit in the extreme, it illustrates the Thai mind set as far as we Farangs are concerned, and our position in the Thai constellation. It also shows, vividly, that a Thai will never admit they could possibly be wrong. If they won’t admit it to their own; they certainly will not admit it to a Farang.

Michael, gone, but not forgotten.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good FACTUAL Post

They are scum and they are not the minority as some of the "ostriches" here purport.

Chookdee

[otherstuff1957]

One of my wife's relatives is a Police Inspector in Kanchanaburi. He didn't want to talk about this case, but he did let a few things slip. He doesn't like Sombat, he thinks that he is a bad cop and is bad for Thailand's image. He (Sombat) is very well connected and is involved in the drug trade - hence the contacts in Burma.

Given these facts, Sombat will probably be greeted by some old friends in prison, not old enemies, that is, if he goes to prison at all.

[thaibebop]

Why, do I always read about expats being killed and found dead? Why would this pig be viewed as a hero for killing an unarmed man and woman? What the h3ll do these people have against us? Do expats ruin the country?

Please some one give me some answers. My wife is Thai and wants to some day live again in her homeland, but I get the feeling that even if I am just visiting I should be well armed. What the @$%*!

I always hear how nice these people are yet corpes seem to be a part of expat-Thai relations?

[sriracha john]

This thing just gets uglier. From Ch. 9 evening news and Nation:

In chaotic scenes outside the court, one of Somchai's plainclothes police bodyguards used pepper spray against photographers trying to photograph Somchai being lead to a prison van that would take him to prison.

A foreign press photographer was sprayed in the face.

[Khun Larry]

I always hear how nice these people are yet corpes seem to be a part of expat-Thai relations?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A hugh number of farangs die in Thailand every year. Numbers are in the hundreds in Pattaya alone. About 200 Brits and 150 Yanks. Even if 50% are from "natural causes" (old codger riding a young las) that still leaves a very large number.

udon check my spelling!!!

[udon]

Get your own spill chicker. Dick.

[lung]

Another backpacker found dead

Published on May 26 , 2005

As Somchai Wisetsingh was led away for the murder of a young British couple yesterday, police admitted that another backpacker had been found dead after having gone missing following a food festival at the bridge over the River Kwai.

Twenty-two-year-old Aya Glaucia, from Brazil, went missing in Kanchanaburi on February 10. Her body was found on March 27, but police did not announce the discovery until yesterday.

A police spokesman admitted that a body found in Sangkhla Buri district on the Thai-Burmese border had been identified as Glaucia using dental records sent from Japan, where both of her parents live.

However, Senior Sgt-Major Wichai Srimuangchanachai of the Kanchanaburi Tourist Police command said yesterday that an autopsy was underway to determine the cause of death.

He said in a telephone interview that the tourist's mother was expected to travel to Thailand next week to provide police with more information about the deceased woman.

Aya had travelled to Thailand from Japan on February 9 and hired a car with her husband to travel to Kanchanaburi. Her husband told police she had disappeared after visiting a local food festival and that he subsequently put up posters in the town offering a reward for information on her whereabouts.

"Her loving husband and two-year-old baby daughter are waiting for her," he wrote.

A spokesman for the Thai Tourist Police said: "An investigation is continuing. Her parents are coming from Japan next month. Cause of death has not been established. The body was badly decomposed."

maybe mr. YA again ???....

WELCOME -- TO -- KANCHANABURI

[mnoorsapl]

Given these facts, Sombat will probably be greeted by some old friends in prison, not old enemies, that is, if he goes to prison at all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hope the bossman is not some of the old freinds.

[maerim]

Along with everyone else I have no idea if he will serve his term or not but at least he was tried and convicted of this crime.

Which is more than can be said for the tragic death five years ago of the backpacker Kirsty Jones from Wales who was murdered in the Aree guest house in Chiang Mai.

After an intial flurry of arrests and subsequent releases nothing has been heard of this case even though some police from the UK were brought in on the case.

They complained of lack of help from the local police (what a surprise) before returning home.

I wonder how many more unsolved murders there are of foriegners in Thailand?

[Khun Larry]

Get your own spill chicker. Dick.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is the problem, can't spell??? Give it a try you KL wannabee

How is your "career" going? I have not been down to the mail room lately!!

[Popeyethesailorman]

Get your own spill chicker. Dick.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is the problem, can't spell??? Give it a try you KL wannabee

How is your "career" going? I have not been down to the mail room lately!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

535 posts and all negative. Such a sad sad man

[udon]

Get your own spill chicker. Dick.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is the problem, can't spell??? Give it a try you KL wannabee

How is your "career" going? I have not been down to the mail room lately!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mail room is great, sorry, nothing for you, looks like you have no friends in LoS or Pommieland.

Not surprised though the way you put Thais down all the time.

Why stay in a country you don't have any time for the locals?

[Maejo Man]

Along with everyone else I have no idea if he will serve his term or not but at least he was tried and convicted of this crime.

Which is more than can be said for the tragic death five years ago of the backpacker Kirsty Jones from Wales who was murdered in the Aree guest house in Chiang Mai.

After an intial flurry of arrests and subsequent releases nothing has been heard of this case even though some police from the UK were brought in on the case.

They complained of lack of help from the local police (what a surprise) before returning home.

I wonder how many more unsolved murders there are of foriegners in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One of the saddest cases in a long time. Frequenty seen in the company of "gentleman dressed in brown" prior to her death. After her tragic death, one of these "gentleman" disappeared without a trace. Pressing business in Cambodia?

It was common knowlege in the local Thai community what had happened, but do you think anybody would come forward? You would have been well aware of this Maerim being a local.

[Khun Larry]

Mail room is great, sorry, nothing for you, looks like you have no friends in LoS or Pommieland.

Not surprised though the way you put Thais down all the time.

Why stay in a country you don't have any time for the locals?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Partly true, I have very few friends. Most people are same but dont know it.

I have a few good ones and am happy for that.

I have spent quite a bit of time with the locals. A few good ones and many not so good. Same same everywhere.

As for staying in T land I have cut back my time. Inexpensive no doubt, but dirty, sleazy and frankly the Thai people suck.

Any mail for me today??

[taxexile]

some of you might find the lengthy reports on the following website interesting , informative , shocking and quite frankly unbelievable.

welcome to planet thailand.

Adventures in Thai Justice: Four Case Studies

Adventures in Thai Justice: Four real-life case studies of foreigners' experiences

in the Thai legal system, and the indifference of the Thai authorities to ...

www.camblab.com/thai_02.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

[taxexile]

a synopsis of those articles.

Adventures in Thai Justice: Four Case Studies

    Why do world news headlines report "Thai legal system rated a disgrace"?

    What is the Thai Government doing about it?

    Read the following real-life case studies and see.

1.  The Law Society of Thailand declines to discipline a Thai attorney who defrauds a foreign investor by rigging a Court-ordered auction, arguing that auction-rigging is a "legitimate legal tactic" in Thailand.

2. Crimebusters in Action: A Public Prosecutor assists a citizen to swindle a foreigner; the Attorney General's Office whitewashes the investigation; the report of a re-investigation is hidden in the Prime Minister's Office from the foreign victim.

3. The Bank and the Court In connivance with a sibling of its chairman, a state-controlled bank organizes a hoax upon the public. Behind-the-scenes chicanery bars legal recourse against the state body.

4. Alice in Thailand At the first sitting of a case between a Thai and a foreigner the presiding judge announces evidentiary hearings will be largely unnecessary as he has already composed the Judgment based on the nationality of the litigants.

if you cant get them by cut and pasting the link , then google "adventures in thai justice"

[sriracha john]

A hugh number of farangs die in Thailand every year. Numbers are in the hundreds in Pattaya alone. About 200 Brits and 150 Yanks. Even if 50% are from "natural causes" that still leaves a very large number.

what's the source of this data???

[udon]

If the Camlab site is blocked, the full text is here

[Darkling]

How many favour the death penalty?

In my humble meaning, I think the death penalty is completely wrong. God told us not to kill and nobody on this planet has the right to kill. NOBODY. An NDE I had about 20 years ago brought me to this simple insight.

There are harsher punishments than the death penalty. In prison for life without any possibility of parole would be a much more adequate punishment than the death penalty, especially for this accused, if proven guilty. Imagine yourself, say 40 years in prison without the chance of ever getting your freedom back.

I know in Thailand this would never materialize this way and that is sad.

By the way who said the farang was spitting in the Thai policeman's face? He had one month time (while he was in hiding) to cook up this story.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is what I posted yesterday in George's previous post. But when I read all the opinions of how this guy might gets out of prison.... Still we can't kill 'em.

Having been here for over 18 years I have seen many times how easy prisoners are freed by a royal pardon, tens of thousands at a time. My wife said that she believes that no people who have comitted manslaughter are included in those royal pardons. It just wouldn't make any sense. And then: what does make any sense in Thailand? I can all of you suggest a refreshing book about Thailand I just bought: Thailand Confidential by Jerry Hopkins ISBN 0-7946-0093-X. He really sees Thailand the way it is and gives us expats even more valuable insight.

The more this guy was handed two life sentences, I don't believe at all that he could ever get out. There will be people monitoring his whereabouts for many years to come. And if he would ever get out there are people who surely will take the law into their own hands and order his killing outside of the judicial path..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Like who.

[Darkling]

I don't know how this can be classified as a "crime of passion".  Killing one person might be, but killing a second person to cover up the first murder sounds like it's bordering on premeditated.  I mean how long do you have to think about killing someone before it's premeditated?

This is a man who is supposed to "uphold" the law and should be held to the highest standard of justice.  I don't agree with the death penalty, but they do have it here and drug pushers are given it, so why not someone who kills two people?

I think it speaks volumes about "justice" here. 

Those people who want to keep it on the radar screen also need to check and make sure it's actually him in jail.  A couple of years back there was some lady who paid someone else to serve her time--anybody remember that case?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At least you are on the ball. Lots out here still living in cloud cookoo land.

[aletta]

Hopefully the case is too famous to allow for a switch or a quick exit.

[maerim]

Hopefully the case is too famous to allow for a switch or a quick exit.

How I wish you were right but in my experience peoples memories are all too short.

After a while this will be forgotten by most people and just how is one to find out if he is still in prison?

[The_Moog]

I don't agree with the death penalty, but they do have it here and drug pushers are given it, so why not someone who kills two people?

On the Aussie Dope topic, the general complaint was that the sentence - (also not capital punishment) was too tough.

Dunno why we all don't just go off to Law School, have a career in the legal profession then become High Court Judges.