Senate Speaker Gets Suspended Jail Term For Granting Himself A Pay Increase

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POLITICS

Senate speaker gets suspended jail term for granting himself a pay increase

Thiradet

BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court Wednesday found Senate Speaker Thiradet Meepian, another former ombudsman and former secretary-general of the Office of Ombudsmen guilty of malfeasance in issuing a regulation to grant themselves a pay increase.

Thiradet and Poolsup Piya-anant, another former ombudsman, were given two-year suspended sentences while Pramote Chotemongkol, former secretary-general of the Office of Ombudsmen, was given a one-year-and-four-month suspended jail term.

The court found the three guilty of collaborating to issue a regulation to give themselves a pay increase of Bt20,000 a month without authority. The court ruled that the pay increase needed to be approved by the Cabinet and enacted as a law by Parliament.

The crime was committed between July 29 and September 30, 2004, the court was told.

The court was told that when Thiradet and Poolsup were ombudsmen, Pramote assisted them in issuing the regulation to give themselves a fixed meeting allowance of Bt20,000 a month. Pramote used a regulation on meeting allowances for the Constitution Court as a guideline to draft the regulation for the Office of Ombudsmen.

The regulation was issued on July 30, 2004 with a retroactive dating to July 1, 2004. The three had received the Bt20,000 monthly allowance for three months before returning the money after the National Anti-Corruption Commission started a malfeasance probe against them.

The Criminal Court ruled that since the Bt20,000 was paid in a fixed amount on the monthly basis, it had to be regarded as a part of the salary, which the three had no authority to approve for themselves.

Their jail terms were suspended on the grounds that they have no criminal record.

Following the ruling, Deputy Senate Speaker Nikom Waiyaratphanit said Thiradet was disqualified as Senate speaker and the new one will be elected on August 6.

Nikom has become acting Senate speaker pending the election.

Nikom said Article 124 (4) states that the Senate speaker must be disqualified once given a jail term, regardless of whether imprisonment is suspended or not.

-- The Nation 2012-07-25

[chotthee]

he should go to jail for stealing from tax payer.

Edited July 25, 2012 by chotthee

[waza]

So he gets transfered to an inactive senatorial post?

[ralphlsasser]

That punishment will teach them a lesson. (sic)

[daninthai]

"Their jail terms were suspended on the grounds that they have no criminal record."

Well they do now.

I've got no record. Do I get 1 free pass to do anything I want?

[rkidlad]

So they were fired, given a criminal record and will now find it very hard to find any kind of work, right?

These people are common thieves. I imagine the main guy will have to take work like a cleaner, right? A low risk and low salary job. Whoever employs him will have to tell people around to keep their belongings in sight because this man was convicted of theft.

Or not.

[Ricardo]

Loads-a-Money !

No wonder people find working for the public-good so very rewarding !

[geriatrickid]

Do any of you remember the changes proposed by PAD and the Democrats that called for even more appointed senators? It received strong support from many peope in TVF. Let's look at or convicted Senator's career path;

- 100% military.

- He is one of the senators selected by a committee and not elected by the people.

His work CV;

1979-1981 - Senator, National Assembly.

1989-1991 - Deputy Commanding General, Armed Forces Security Center, Supreme Command Hqs.

1991-1992 - Chief of Staff Officers to Deputy Supreme Commander.

1993-1995 - Director of Joint Intelligence, Supreme Command Headquarters.

1995-1995 - Commanding General, Armed Forces Security Center, Supreme Command Headquarters.

1996-1997 - Director, 114 Coordinating Center, Internal Security Operations Command.

1996-1997 - Commanding General, National Defence Studies Institute

1998-1998 - Director, War Veterans Organization of Thailand

under Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King.

1998-2000 - Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence.

24 Dec 2003 - 23 Aug 2007 - Parliamentary Ombudsman

24 Aug 2007 - 13 Nov 2007 - Ombudsman

14 Nov 2007 - 3 Apr 2010 - Chief Ombudsman

[Pib]

Wish I could grant myself a pay increase...must be nice to be able to do that, especially with taxpayer money. TiT

[Skywalker69]

It´s easy to spend other peoples money.

[belg]

one-year-and-four-month suspended jail term; now that is a very strong signal to the fraudsters and grabber, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot

[EarthAlien]

Have some compassion guys. These poor fellas probably aren't directly in commanding tea-money positions and so they have to resort to self appointed pay increases!

What else are they expected to do?

Corruption and graft is theft,-the only difference here is that the actions of these men was placed so openly on display and they got hung for it.

Not condoning what they did,... just sayin'!

[Hamlet07]

That punishment will teach them a lesson. (sic)

Wow,they do it here all the time here in OZ.... Edited July 26, 2012 by metisdead
: Please use black font when posting.

[Tatsujin]

Is it just me . . . or are "suspended" jail terms de rigueur here in Thailand currently . . . ?

Is anyone ever going to be actually convicted of something and then pay a meaningful fine or penalty????

[Dap]

Wish I could grant myself a pay increase...must be nice to be able to do that, especially with taxpayer money. TiT

Well, they tried.

I'm amazed they were convicted, but with suspended sentence ... seemingly, "No harm, No Foul"

I just wonder, why all the recent court rulings seem to come up suspended sentence. Am waiting

to see what transpires with the Dem Politico's gas station bathroom murder case.

Just curious.

[metisdead]

Posts containing defamatory photos have been removed.

[clockman]

Is it just me . . . or are "suspended" jail terms de rigueur here in Thailand currently . . . ?

Is anyone ever going to be actually convicted of something and then pay a meaningful fine or penalty????

They cannot fine anybody or go to jail, Because they also are guilty of something. All tared with the same brush. I will protect you, if you will protect me!