Criminal court sentences Channel 3's TV host Sorayuth to 13 years

[webfact]

TV host Sorayuth sentenced 13 years and four months in jail for cheating MCOT



BANGKOK: -- The Criminal Court today sentenced well-known Channel 3's TV host Sorayuth Suthassanachinda and his Rai Som company financial officer to 13 years and four months in prison with no suspension of prison terms after finding them guilty in cheating the state-owned MCOT Plc of over 138 million baht in advertising revenue in 2005 and 2006.

His Rai Som company was also ordered to pay fine of 80,000 baht.

The charges were filed by the National Anti Corruption Commission against the TV host and his Rai Som company, Mrs Pichapa Iamsa-ard, an MCOT employee, and Ms Montha Theeradet, an employee of Rai Som Co.

The court at first sentenced Mrs Pichapa to 30 years in prison, and Surayuth and Ms Montha to 20 years but commuted the sentences by one third after they gave useful testimonies on the trial.

Mrs Pichapa’s sentence was reduced to 20 years, while Sorayuth and Montha got 13 years and four months each.

No suspension of jail terms were given to the three after the rulings.

They have to serve the jail terms immediately.

Mrs Pichapa received the hefty penalty as she was a state employee and guilty of corruption.

All three convicts are seeking temporary release on bails and will also appeal the sentences.

The NACC said in its lawsuit that in June 2003, MCOT contracted Sorayuth to be the daily host for its Thueng Luk Thueng Khon news programme on TV Channel 9 for 5,000 baht an episode.

The programme proved popular and prompted Sorayuth to establish Rai Som in February 2004.

Rai Som also had a contract with MCOT to co-produce the Kui Kui Khao news programme. Rai Som was allocated advertising slots of between two and five minutes during the news programme.

If its advertisements exceeded the time slots, Rai Som was supposed to pay MCOT a rate of at least 200,000 baht per minute.

Sorayuth allegedly paid Mrs Pichapa to help conceal the records of the advertising airtime Rai Som used.

The NACC found that Sorayuth made six payments worth a total of 739,770.50 baht to Mrs Pichapa who was responsible for recording commercial time.

The NACC said Ms Pichapa managed to conceal the recordings of the extra advertising time of Rai Som from February 4, 2005, to June 30, 2006 amounted to 138.79 million baht.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/152855


-- Thai PBS 2016-02-29

[BigBadGeordie]

But, will he ever serve a day in jail, I somewhat doubt it!

[trogers]

Will this piece of news be presented over Channel 3 tomorrow morning?

[NongKhaiKid]

Where's the magical phrase ' suspended for ... years ' or will that come from the appeal court ?

Since this is breaking news I suppose we will learn more especially if bail has been granted pending an appeal.

[worgeordie]

He has a surprised and worried look on his face,I will be equally surprised

if he sees the inside of a cell,thats not what happens to the rich and famous

here.

regards Worgeordie

[kotsak]

SSDD.. Nothing will happen. He'll be on our TV screens as usual.

[keemapoot]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

[NongKhaiKid]

Will this piece of news be presented over Channel 3 tomorrow morning?

Definitely not if he's still the anchor !

" Yesterday I was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. ... " Highly unlikely but it would make for great television !

[ratcatcher]

Perhaps Ms Yingluck sent her commiserations?

[Johnniey]

LOL, this has made my day!

[BirdsandBooze]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

At least she'll get more to say than just 'ka' now.

[FourAces]

Good riddance to another Takisin stooge!!

[FourAces]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

At least she'll get more to say than just 'ka' now.

And OoooHhhhh!!!

[keemapoot]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

At least she'll get more to say than just 'ka' now.

And OoooHhhhh!!!

Yeah, the issue is I think he owns and produces those shows on channel 3, and so unlikely to just disappear into the sunset.

[eeeya]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

At least she'll get more to say than just 'ka' now.

And OoooHhhhh!!!

This is so true.. Made me laugh.

What is her purpose

[terryp]

I think you will find that he owns the production company that makes the morning magazine programme which is then provided to Channel 3 under contract …so I would think Channel 3 will site breach of contract (as he may not be available to produce the programme or host it, if he actually goes to the monkey house) and then select another production company (with new anchors, and production team etc)

[keemapoot]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

At least she'll get more to say than just 'ka' now.

And OoooHhhhh!!!

This is so true.. Made me laugh.

What is her purpose

Her purpose is to make him look intelligent. She speaks English (he can barely utter an intelligible phrase), is a Nida graduate, and he pales by comparison with her as a newscaster.

Edited February 29, 2016 by keemapoot

[Cuchulainn]

Good riddance to another Takisin stooge!!

+1

[Prbkk]

The script doesn't change. Chicken feed corruption gets the big penalty, the fraudsters from the big, connected end of town, with their zillions worth of crony monopolies just going on raking it in and living the life of Riley

Edited February 29, 2016 by Prbkk

[tomwct]

With that look, I know he'll be going to jail! In the old days, all you had to do was bribe someone. OOPs, that's what happened to him, but he stole over 130 Million baht for a 700,000 baht bribe. Not bad business in Thailand!

[pedro01]

I am shocked.

Great result.

[Misterwhisper]

This morning's channel 3 news already had his co-anchor presenter (Bike) take up his anchor chair and seemed to be fully in control. She is very competent to carry on, and much more credible than he is. No problem.

At least she'll get more to say than just 'ka' now.

And OoooHhhhh!!!

And "ohoooo!"

[Siripon]

Jail is still a long way off, there is the Appeal Court and then the Supreme Court.

I don't understand why he works so hard, the weekday morning show and then the afternoon interview, and the weekends. Has he ever had a day off? I heard years ago his morning show alone was bringing in a million baht a day, why cheat MCOT, why work so hard?

Perhaps he caught the Shinawat syndrome, after all he has jointly invested with Oak in a housing project,- you can never make enough.

,

[condo bought]

Will this piece of news be presented over Channel 3 tomorrow morning?

Definitely not if he's still the anchor !

" Yesterday I was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. ... " Highly unlikely but it would make for great television !

Not sure I would use the word 'highly' to describe the unlikeliness of it.

I would say 50/50 at best.

[GuestHouse]

Utterly disgusting.

[condo bought]

Now if they could get the little fat guy that thinks he's a woman, and the boing-boing sound effects guy.

[BobTH]

This surprises me, if I am not mistaken he paid back the 138 million baht quite a while back a year or so ago. Not that makes it right but I would have thought he would have gotten off a lot easier than this, he is Channel 3's shining star and a very wealthy man. I have actually met him and chatted briefly, I guess I will go against the tide here and wish him luck in his appeal. It's not really like he committed a violent crime or caused anyone bodily harm, I can think of a couple of other instances where others pretty much paid some money and walked for worse..

[anto]

That croaky voice of his ,along with the constant Kaing was like a drill through my brain .Could not turn the C. off as my wife always listens to him .Hope he rots in gaol for that alone .

Edited February 29, 2016 by anto

[anon467848]

His Rai Som company was also ordered to pay fine of 80,000 baht.

The punitive fines in Thailand are a joke, in comparison the the crime and the sums of money involved, that a person has been found guilty of... We all know that the guilty HiSo's won't spend any time in jail, the courts should at least hurt the convicted in the pocket, where it counts the most..

Edited February 29, 2016 by merlin2002

[webfact]

TV Celebrity Sorayuth Gets 13 Years for Embezzling Ad Revenue
Teeranai Charuvastra


Sorayuth Suthassanachinda appears in court Nov. 12, 2014, in Bangkok. Photo: Matichon

BANGKOK — One of the nation’s most recognizable television personalities today was sentenced to 13 years in prison for cheating a state-owned channel of more than 138 million baht in advertisement revenue a decade ago.

The Criminal Court sentenced TV news host Sorayuth Suthassanachinda, whose daily news talk show is watched by millions, of embezzling 138 million baht by selling more commercial airtime than allowed over a 14-month period and bribing another employee to hide it.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1456732705


-- Khaosod English 2016-02-29