Supreme Court upholds 50-year jail sentence for ex-TAT governor, 40 years for daughter
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the jail sentences handed to the former governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Juthamas Siriwan, and her daughter Jittisopha, while ruling on their appeal.
Juthamas had been sentenced to 50 years in jail by the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases back in March 2017 for accepting US$1.8 million (Bt62 million) in bribes from an American couple seeking the rights to host a Bangkok film festival during 2002 to 2007. Jittisopha had been sentenced to 44 years in jail for helping hide the ill-gotten cash in overseas bank accounts. The court had also ordered that the money they had deposited in overseas banks, as well as the profit generated, totalling Bt62,724,776 be confiscated as state asset.
In May 2019, the Appeal Court upheld Juthamas’s jail sentence but reduced Jittisopha’s to 40 years. The court also revoked the order for confiscation of the money in overseas bank accounts, citing that the prosecutor had not asked for the confiscation of money or offered any evidence in their lawsuit.
The Supreme Court heard their appeal and decided to uphold the verdict of the Appeal Court, who had found the former TAT governor guilty of committing malfeasance by accepting bribes, which was an abuse of her power.