Top court upholds embezzlement ruling
The Best Court upheld reduce court rulings towards financier Rakesh Saxena, sentencing him to 335 years in prison in 3 lawsuits in connection with the particular Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) embezzlement scandal.
Saxena was first indicted by prosecutors twenty six years ago.
The ruling, read out yesterday by Bangkok South Lawbreaker Court, brought a finish to three situations of fraud plus embezzlement that were thought to have contributed towards the collapse of the financial institution and the start of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Saxena had been accused of embezzlement during his period as a BBC treasury adviser and is broadly reputed to have been engaged in dozens of high-risk ventures and offers over the course of three prior decades.
Saxena played a vital role in running the BBC company from 1993 to 1995, especially in the financing of funds to investors. The bank had been shut down after occuring huge losses.
In yesterday’s ruling, Saxena was found guilty of violating the Securities plus Exchange Commission Action in three instances.
According to the prosecution’s lawsuits, the offences were dedicated during 1994-1996 when the defendant served as an adviser to the chief executive of the now-defunct BBC, Krirkkiat Jalichandra, who might be now dead.
Saxena had been accused of assisting Krirkkiat and others within authorising loans really worth more than 30 million baht to Somprasong Intercommunication Co and nine other companies without proper examination of their own ability to repay.
The mortgage authorisation was not approved by the bank’s professional committee and thus was in violation of Bank of Thailand rules governing requests meant for loans of more than 30 million baht. Moreover, the defendant and his alleged accomplices also colluded to embezzle the money.
The prosecution requested the court in order to punish the defendant under the Securities and Exchange Commission React and order him to return the funds worth 2 . 5 billion to the bank.
The particular Criminal Court found Saxena guilty of violating Sections 307, 308, 311 and 315 of the Stock Exchange associated with Thailand Act and Section 83 of the Criminal Code and handed down a 335-year prison term.
However , under the law, the accused would serve no more than 20 years.
The Criminal Court also imposed an excellent of 33 mil baht and purchased him to return second . 5 billion baht to the bank.
Saxena: To serve up to 20 years in prison
Saxena appealed the ruling, but the Appeal Court stood with the lower court’s decision. He challenged the particular ruling in the Supreme Court.
In the ruling, the Supreme Court said it examined the evidence submitted by the prosecution and found without a doubt the fact that defendant committed the offences as charged.
The particular Supreme Court was by the lower court’s decision.
Saxena was charged with embezzlement really worth US$75 million within 1996 following the failure of BBC within 1995. A warrant was issued with regard to his arrest within June 1996.
He fled to Canada after the scandal emerged but was arrested there in July 1996.
After an extended extradition battle, a Canadian court declined his objection towards the extradition in November 2008 and he was eventually extradited to stand trial in Thailand.
In June this year, the Bangkok Southern Criminal Court sentenced him to ten years in prison, plus ordered him to pay a fine of 1 million baht and return 1 . 13 billion baht to the bank in connection with illicit loans granted to City Trading Corp totalling 1 . 6 billion baht.
As for Krirkkiat, this individual was declared broke in 2009 and indicted for fraud plus embezzlement worth fifty billion baht.
He was sentenced to two decades in prison. He died of malignancy in October 2012.