The hi-so gangs of Thailand

[reader]

It's been long acknowledged that the elites of Thai society enjoy a certain impunity when it comes to the law.

Most readers can recall the incident when Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya, heir to the Red Bull beverage fortune, ran down and killed a Bangkok motorcycle cop. The hit-and-run took place in August 2012, when Mr Vorayuth rammed his car into a motorcycle driven by Pol Snr Sg Maj Wichian Klanprasert of Thong Lor police station.

According to a Bangkok Post article published on June 15 of this year, Mr Vorayuth postponed his court appearances more than five times before finally fleeing abroad in 2012. While Mr Vorayuth was overseas, a speeding charge against him was dropped after its one-year statute of limitations expired in 2013.

Meanwhile, a second charge -- failing to stop to help a crash victim -- expired on Sept 3, 2017. Two charges remain active -- the first, for drug use after cocaine was found in his system following a drug test. The charge expires on Sept 3 next year.

The second charge -- reckless driving causing death -- will remain valid until 2027. The OAG (Office of the Auditor General) had initially dropped the charge, but later decided to pursue it after a public uproar.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2132255/at-least-10-may-face-probe-over-boss-acquittal-role

Earlier this month, The Thaiger reported the following news:

Killer’s sentence reduced from 10 years to 3, plus community service

4 years ago, 56 year old Suthep Pochanasomboon, was convicted of killing 17 year old Nawaphol Poengpai after an argument about a parking space. Now, Suthep’s sentence has been commuted by the Supreme Court to 3 years.

The shooting which led to Suthep’s temporary incarceration happened close to the Ang Silla market, which is in the Chon Buri Province. Suthep had honked his horn at Nawaphol and his friends for blocking an intersection with a van.

They argued. Suthep swore, honked his horn, flashed his lights. At some point, Suthep was punched in the face several times.

Eventually, the van was moved.

However, this was not enough to satiate Suthep. He followed the van, honking again. Nawaphol and his friends then pulled over and made their way to Suthep’s car.

Suthep says he feared for his family’s safety and shot Nawaphol.

Suthep was originally found guilty of killing Nawaphol. The Supreme Court felt that Suthep could have fired his gun into the air to scare off Nawaphol and his friends. However, he elected to shoot the teenager in the chest.

However, the court also determined Suthep acted in self-defence because he had been assaulted earlier when the two parties had first interacted.

Part of Suthep’s reduced sentence is he will have to perform 30 hours of community service and take anger management classes. He was also fined 2,000 baht for having a gun in public. They did not mention whether he is allowed to drive. He is out on probation.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times Thai PBS

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/killers-sentence-reduced-from-10-years-to-3-plus-community-service

 

[vaughn]

It is a terrible thing that those with power or wealth are able to remove themselves from blatant wrongdoing so easily, but definitely not anything you won't also frequently see in western democracies or any other nation i can think of. The 'behind closed door' deals with district attorneys offices in the US, and dropping/reduction of charges across most other jurisdictions happens all too frequently, where political protection is used for donations and favor.

The gun violence seen to be used across SEA by some of these corrupt Hi-So people is unique though, i remember reading some stories about Cambodia's elite and charges that seem to vanish for them after broad daylight murders over minor disagreements.. it is all pretty alarming.

[PeterRS]

Part of the reason the elite get away literally with 'murder' is because there are no juries in Thailand. Justice is totally dependent on the judges. No need to guess what class they represent! Add to that a large dose of corruption and you have the answers!

[Gaybutton]

Also, If they can't get out of the charges within Thailand, these people somehow manage to flee to other countries.  The countries these people flee to apparently have no qualms about harboring fugitives - as long as the fugitives are wealthy, have access to money, and place enough money in the right hands. 

[PeterRS]

The issue of the Red Bull heir who murdered the policeman in his Ferrari ought to be relatively simple. There is no dispute about the facts of the case, the accident, the 177kph speed of the car on Sukhumvit, the trail of oil leading to the Red Bull family compound, the failure of the family to release the heir to the police for many hours, the attempt to have a family retainer blamed as the driver, the presence of cocaine in his blood which he was taking for a tooth compliant and the death of a key witness. As for the cocaine, the Thai Dental Council trashed that idea when it confirmed cocaine has not been used for dental treatment for over 100 years!

When being summoned for his five court appearances he conveniently hopped on his private jet and made sure he was in somewhere like Singapore on the dates in question. The arrest warrant is another matter. After he had escaped and spent some years overseas "apparently" unable to be found (first joke), "allegedly" the government, on the initiative of the Prime Minister (second joke) had Interpol issue a "Red Notice", the organisation's most urgent alert (third joke). A friend here who knows the senior Interpol officer in Thailand told me that Interpol was never asked to issue any alert! How true this was at that time, I do not know. But you can view all the 7666 Red Notices currently in force on Interpol's website. Guess what? Vorayuth Yoovidhya is not on the list. So who lied?

The whereabouts of this fugitive from justice should not be difficult even if, as is surely likely, he is travelling under a new passport. The Red Bull presence is in many part of the world, notably at the calendar of Formula 1 car races. Indeed the Red Bull team has won the last 4 races and 5 out of the last 7. That the murdering fugitive has not been present at one or more of these races belies belief - at least my belief.

[10tazione]

Also interesting is the fact that the killed person was not an "ordinary" person but a policman and still nothing happend. Even in high developed democracies it is not easy to win a lawsuit against police.

[PeterRS]

The Yoovidhya family is one of Thailand's wealthiest. Last year Forbes estimated their wealth at US$20 billion. Like the mega-rich in many countries, much of this is hidden in tax havens in the Caribbean. Not surprisingly the family's network of companies appeared in the infamous Panama Papers but some of the paperwork was found to be missing. Mind you, the family was far from the only Thais to appear on the list. 1,400 other Thai names were thrown up. Other countries were relatively quick to investigate the Panama Papers revelations. Thailand, on the other hand, called the information merely "rumours". Thailand's Money Laundering Office became involved but after years that toothless tiger has done nothing.

An article two years ago in The Walrus with contributions from Associated Press reported, "Law professor Viraphong Boonyobhas, director of Chulalongkorn University’s business-crime and money-laundering data bank in Bangkok, would not speak directly about the Yoovidhyas or any other Thai person or company, saying he feared for his legal and physical safety. But he noted that, usually, when it comes to stashing money in offshore accounts, 'people do this to hide corrupt money.'"

Somewhat ironically it was the murderer himself (whose nickname is Boss) who set reporters on the trail of the company's tax schemes. 

"The Yoovidhya family’s efforts to hide assets show how billions in private wealth can be moved around the world with minimal regulation to avoid tax and other legal constraints. The extent of the family’s confidential deals was inadvertently exposed by Boss and his social-media-loving cousins during his time on the run: they had posted photos of Boss walking into a London townhouse, and they even included the address. In April 2017, days after Boss’s attorney told a Bangkok court that his client couldn’t show up because he was on a mission in the United Kingdom, a reporter called out questions to the Red Bull heir on his London doorstep: 'What is your mission in the UK, Boss? What are you doing here? Are you going to Thailand to meet with prosecutors?' Smiling slightly, eyes averted, Boss gave no answer. Hours later, he and his parents hurried out of the home with suitcases. That was the last time Boss was seen in public."

Since then  

"An investigation into the five-storey brick home showed that it is the address Boss’s father, Chalerm Yoovidhya, gave when incorporating Siam Winery Trading Plus in the UK in 2002, and that his mother, Daranee Yoovidhya, used when opening a food-related business there in 2006. But, according to AP, the listed owner of the home, and at least four other multimillion-dollar properties in London, isn’t the Yoovidhyas—it’s Karnforth Investments, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, according to the Panama Papers. After more digging into the Yoovidhyas, it became clear that there were more shell games being played." These games involve several more offshore Caribbean based companies which channel cash back and forth between each.

And of the killer himself? Well, despite being on the run and allegedly unable to be located, social media has shown photos of him in at least nine countries since a first Interpol alert was supposed to have been issued.

"Stops include the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Osaka, Japan, where he posed, grinning and wearing robes from Hogwarts’s darkest dorm, Slytherin house. He’s cruised Monaco’s harbour, snowboarded Japan’s fresh powder, and celebrated his birthday at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London. This means that, while authorities say they’ve had no idea where Boss was, his friends, family, and all of their followers seem to have had no doubt about his whereabouts and the good times he’s been having. One summer, in Japan, he posted a ten-second video of sausage and eggs decorated with seaweed eyes, tagging a young relative. His parents responded with a thumbs up." 

Meanwhile the widow of the murdered traffic policeman was provided with compensation of just 3 million baht for the death of the 47 year old victim.

https://thewalrus.ca/corruption-did-the-heir-to-the-red-bull-empire-get-away-with-murder/

[a-447]

Many countries treat their hi-so / wealthy citizens differently to the hoi-polloi. 

In Australia, politicians who misuse taxpayers' money by, for example, claiming travel expenses they are not entitled to, do not face prosecution.  They just pay it back, along with an apology, and all is forgiven.

I wonder what would happen if a bank robber offered to give the money back when he was arrested? Would that be permissible?

Probably not!

[PeterRS]

I wonder what happens when an Australian politician murders someone. Impossible to bring him/her back to life and be forgiven!