All eyes on Vorayuth as another date with destiny arrives
With an incensed public keenly watching, Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, accused of running over and killing a police officer in 2012, is again due to meet prosecutors today. He has repeatedly failed to honour previous summonses and has yet to be charged with a crime.
The 31-year-old grandson of the late Chaleo Yoovidhya, who co-founded the company that bottles the energy drink Red Bull, is scheduled to face prosecutors over the 2012 hit-and-run death of police Senior Sgt-Major Wichean Klinprasert on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road.
Public prosecutors on March 30 postponed a decision on whether to indict Vorayuth after his lawyer claimed the heir to a corporate fortune was “preoccupied” in England. The prosecutors’ failure to act further riled public opinion soon after news reports indicated that Vorayuth had all these years been living a lavish lifestyle overseas.
Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) deputy spokesman Prayut Phetkhun declared on March 30 that if Vorayuth failed to show up today, an arrest warrant would be considered. The OAG is expected to hold a press conference on the case at 2pm.
Vorayuth was accused of hitting and killing 47-year-old police patrolman Wichean with his Ferrari early one morning in September 2012 and dragging the body for a considerable distance. The statutes of limitation have since expired on charges of speeding and reckless driving causing property damage, be he remains accused of reckless driving resulting in death, which has a 15-year statute of limitation, and refusing to stop to assist a victim, for which the statute ends in September.
The first offence carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and the latter six months.
