Conviction upheld over MP's smuggled vehicle
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The Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld the lower court's conviction and sentencing of former Thai Rak Thai Party MP Wichai Chaijitwanichkul over buying a smuggled vehicle and falsifying official documents.
Wichai faces a one-year suspended jail term and a fine of Bt6.5 million. However, because Wichai eventually surrendered to police, the Court of Appeals ruled against the lower court’s decision to grant police 20 per cent of the fine as a reward.
Public prosecutors accused Wichai of buying a Mitsubishi Pajero sport-utility vehicle worth Bt1.6 million, including an import tariff of Bt723,289. Crime suppression police seized the SUV along with a pair of counterfeit licence plates at Wichai’s home in Udon Thani in March 1998.
The Nation
