Last Friday the 13th must have been horrible for the 11 defendants involved in a court case involving fraud in the 23-billion-baht Klong Dan wastewater treatment project -- a state infrastructure which has been built but left largely unused in Samut Prakan.
On that day, the Supreme Court handed jail terms of 3-6 years to 11 defendants including veteran politician Vatana Asavahame for his role in the illegal purchase of a 1,900-rai plot of public coastal land. The other 10 defendants, executives of joint-venture firms, were also found guilty of involvement in illegal contracts to build the facility.
However, six of the 11 defendants including Vatana did not show up in court. The veteran politician fled the country a decade ago ahead of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions' ruling in a separate case which handed him a 10 year-jail term for corruption.
