The Appeal Court yesterday upheld a jail sentence for former Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Juthamas Siriwan for bribery over the hosting of the Bangkok International Film Festival, but revoked a lower court's order to have her assets worth 62.7 million baht confiscated.
In its ruling the Appeal Court found Juthamas, 72, guilty of 11 charges including demanding bribes, malfeasance in office, and price collusion in connection with the kickback scandal involving the hosting of the film festival between 2002 and 2007.
The court gave a four-year sentence for each of the charges totalling 66 years, but the former governor can only spend a maximum of 50 years in prison for her crimes, according to the Criminal Code.
Her daughter, Jittisopha, was found guilty of 10 charges and given four years each for every charge by the Appeal Court. The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases gave her 44 years in prison for 11 charges.
In its ruling the Appeal Court, however, revoked the lower court's order to confiscate the pair's assets worth more than 62.7 million baht on the ground that the prosecution did not seek the asset seizure in the first place. The Appeal Court also cited the provisional chapter of the 2016 law on criminal procedures for corruption cases to revoke the asset seizure order.
According to the court, the case against the defendants was filed before the current law took effect, so the asset seizure could not be applied. The pair were indicted on Aug 25, 2015 for allegedly demanding a bribe from Gerald Green and his wife Patricia, an American couple, in exchange for them being awarded a 60-million-baht contract to organise the annual film festival between 2002 and 2007.
Ms Jittisopha helped her mother commit the offences by opening accounts in numerous foreign banks, and the American couple transferred US$1.8 million (57 million baht) into these accounts, the court found. Defence lawyer Suchart Chomkul said his clients would have to discuss with the legal team whether to appeal the ruling with the Supreme Court.
