Srisuwan, ‘Jeng Dokjik’ jailed for extorting 1.5m from rice dept chief
Anti-graft court jails activist Srisuwan Janya and ‘Jeng Dokjik’ for extorting 1.5m baht from the Rice Department chief; three others also convicted.
A corruption court on Wednesday sentenced Yoswaris Chuklom, alias Jeng Dokjik, and prolific petitioner Srisuwan Janya to six years and four years in prison respectively after convicting them of collaborating to extort 1.5 million baht from the Rice Department chief.
Court ruling
The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases found Yoswaris, a former comedian turned political activist, and Srisuwan guilty of extorting 1.5 million baht from Natthakit Khongthip, director-general of the Rice Department, in January 2024.
The court ruled that Yoswaris was guilty of malfeasance because he was serving as a political appointee in a government working group under then deputy prime minister and energy minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga.
Srisuwan and three others were convicted of supporting Yoswaris in abusing his authority and were given four-year prison terms.
Other defendants
The three other convicts were identified as Pimnattha Jiraputthiphak, a former United Thai Nation Party candidate, Ekkalak Wareechol, and another defendant, Naphatprapa. Each received a four-year sentence.
All five defendants have sought bail pending their appeal against the ruling.
Sting operation
Srisuwan, Yoswaris and Pimnattha were arrested in a sting operation on January 26 2024, after Natthakit filed a secret complaint with the Royal Thai Police’s Anti-Corruption Division on January 12. Ekkalak and Naphatprapa were later arrested on February 1.
A police sting operation was planned for Natthakit to pay another 500,000 baht to Srisuwan on January 26. The envelope was handed to his wife at their house that day before police stormed in to arrest Srisuwan.
Natthakit told investigators that the three initially demanded 3 million baht in hush money in exchange for not pursuing allegations of irregularities in two Rice Department projects. He managed to negotiate the amount down to 1.5 million baht, with an initial payment of 140,000 baht.
Evidence recorded
Natthakit secretly recorded a video of the payment, which was later used as evidence when he filed the complaint with police. He said he decided to report the case because he had done nothing wrong.
