Jirat Thongsuwan given a time in jail for fabricating allegations against a former member of the defense department
PUBLISHED: 29 Jun 2024 at 19: 42
Jirat Thongsuwan, a member of the Move Forward Party, says he may charm his one-year suspended prison sentence for defaming a former top defense government official in connection with the state’s purchase of fake exploding detection.
After convicting Mr. Jirat of fabricating his false accusations of being the president and investor of a business that supplied the legendary GT200 weapon detectors to the military, the Criminal Court also fined him 100, 000 baht.
The Chachoengsao MP made the claim at a no-confidence hearing on July 20, 2022 against members of the government under Gen Prayut Chan o dah. ACM Tharet lacked membership in the government.
ACM Tharet was likewise identified by Mr. Jirat as a key figure in the 2006 revolution led by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, the Thaksin Shinawatra administration’s ouster.  ,
ACM Tharet testified before the judge that Mr. Jirat’s accusations were unsupported and had tarnished his reputation. He insisted he had nothing , to do with the weapon detection business. He neither owned shares in the company nor held the position of top chairman.
The court also ordered Mr. Jirat to give ACM Tharet 500, 000 ringgit in damages and distribute an apology in three papers for five consecutive days.
Later, Mr. Jirat later announced on his X bill that he had appealed the decision and that the tag” An injustice is infuriating” had been added.  ,
The MP is also facing legal action for avoiding being required to sign defense contracts. On May 8, he admitted the demand.
The GT200 was marketed by a British firm as a “remote material detection” and sold to a number of locations. Fourteen Thai state firms, most of them in the military, were estimated to have spent a total of 1.4 billion ringgit on the products between 2004 and 2009.
Concerns about the GT200 and associated equipment began when testing by the National Science and Technology Development Agency revealed that they did not contain any electrical parts.
The items were later left as little more than “divining shafts” as a result.