THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Arrest warrant out for major log trader over bribery charges

Arrest warrant out for major log trader over bribery charges

The Criminal Court yesterday issued an arrest warrant for a major log trader after he failed to turn up at the Supreme Court to hear a court verdict related to a Bt5 million bribery case.

Winai Panitchayanuban was sentenced to two years in jail for giving Bt5 million in bribes to former deputy director-general of the Forestry Department Prawat Thanadka in exchange for logs worth some Bt180 million that had been seized by forestry officials. 
Prawat was sentenced to five years in jail for taking the bribe.
Though Winai appealed the lower court’s decision, the verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeals. 
Both Winai and Prawat then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, but Winai did not show up to hear the verdict yesterday. Prawat, meanwhile, passed away and his wife appeared in court on his behalf yesterday. 
Winai had previously failed to show up at the Supreme Court in August last year to hear a verdict on this case and his lawyer had produced a medical certificate for him, citing ill health. 
The court issued an arrest warrant yesterday when Winai failed to show up once again. The court has scheduled the reading of the verdict on July 26. 
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