THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Court upholds suspended term for Sondhi

Court upholds suspended term for Sondhi

THE SUPREME Court yesterday upheld the suspended prison sentence handed to media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul and his television co-host Sarocha Porn-udomsak in a defamation case filed by Vice Admiral Kiatisak Damapong.

The Appeals Court had ordered that Sondhi and Sarocha pay a Bt50,000 fine and imposed a six-month jail sentence on them suspended for three years after finding them guilty of defaming the Damapong family.
Kiatisak is a relative of Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, the ex-wife of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
Kiatisak filed the defamation suit against 10 defendants including the Manager Media Group, which owns the Manager daily, and management members of the group. 
In the suit it was stated that from January 24 to February 4, 2006, on the TV programme “Muang Thai Rai Sapda” or “Weekly Thailand”, Sondhi and Sarocha criticised the 2006 sale of Shin Corp shares to Temasek Holdings in a manner that damaged the reputation of Kiatisak’s family name.
The episodes were filmed at the Royal Plaza and shown on the ASTV News 1 satellite television channel.
The Criminal Court on June 25, 2007, acquitted all 10 defendants on grounds that their actions did not constitute libel.
Kiatisak lodged an appeal, and the Appeals Court ruled in August 2011 that Sondhi, Sarocha and two other defendants were guilty of libel because they mentioned his family name despite never mentioning him directly. 
Their remarks left some people with the impression that his family’s decision adversely affected the economy, the court found.
The Supreme Court ruled that although the headlines published in Manager and on the daily’s website mentioned the Shinawatra and Damapong names, the content of the accompanying news stories did not relate to every member of the families.
Hence, the Manager newspaper and the Manager website owner Khunthong Lorseriwanit were acquitted. The court ruled that Sondhi was guilty of libel for saying “the whole family cheats”, as everyone in the Damapong family was adversely affected. 
Sarocha was also guilty of the defamation because she co-hosted the programme with Sondhi, the court ruled.
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