A crashed Ferrari, a dead police officer and a fugitive heir to a multibillion-dollar fortune — 10 years on, Thailand is no closer to resolving one of its most notorious hit-and-run cases.
Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya, princeling of the Red Bull energy drink family, is accused of ploughing his sports car into police officer Wichean Glanprasert’s motorbike in Bangkok’s wealthiest neighborhood a decade ago.
After dodging prosecutors and eventually fleeing Thailand on a private jet in 2017, Vorayuth became a symbol of what critics say is the impunity enjoyed by the super-rich in the kingdom.
Photo: AFP
“The perception of different justice systems for different segments of society cripples people’s trust in the Thai state’s capacity to carry out its responsibility to protect human rights for all Thai people,” Amnesty International Thailand told Agence France-Presse.
As a grandson of Red Bull co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya, who died in 2012, Vorayuth is part of a clan with an estimated net worth of US$26.4 billion — making it Thailand’s second-richest family, according to Forbes.
“This family is not only powerful in Thailand, but they are very powerful worldwide too,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai political analyst at Kyoto University.
Within hours of the crash, investigators followed a trail of brake fluid to the Yoovidhya family’s Bangkok compound, where they found a badly dented vehicle with a smashed windscreen.
Police initially accepted a claim that an employee was driving, but Vorayuth became the main suspect and his family later paid the victim’s relatives US$100,000 compensation, the BBC and the New York Times reported.
For five years, Vorayuth played a game of cat and mouse ducking court summonses — claiming through lawyers that he was overseas on business or ill — while photographs documented a globetrotting lifestyle: living it up in London, attending Red Bull racing events, or going off on beach holidays and ski trips.
Charges of speeding, drunk driving and failing to render assistance expired, before a Bangkok court belatedly issued an arrest warrant in 2017. By then, Vorayuth had fled.
DROPPED CHARGES
In 2020, Thai authorities dropped all charges against Vorayuth, triggering a huge public outcry — including a social media campaign to boycott Red Bull.
Amid the backlash, TCP Group — Red Bull Thailand’s parent company — distanced itself from the case, saying the issue was a private matter.
As anger mounted, and with demonstrations against the government growing in the streets, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office ordered a review, which concluded the entire investigation had been “compromised.”
Rights campaigners contrasted the foot-dragging in the Vorayuth case with the swift action meted out to protest leaders, many of whom were hit with multiple royal defamation charges, which carry a prison term of up to 15 years.
The Thai Attorney General’s office announced fresh charges against Vorayuth and, in September 2020, Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest.
An updated version from March last year said Vorayuth had made an attempt to access the Red Notice and was likely in or near France at the time.
The notice also cited Austria — where Red Bull has its headquarters — as a possible location.
Last month, a charge of using cocaine expired, the Attorney General’s office said.
That leaves only one avenue for prosecutors to pursue against Vorayuth: reckless driving causing death, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term.
The office said that the charge is valid until 2027.
However, few expect Vorayuth to face the courts.
“Even from the beginning, a lot of people expected how it would end,” Pavin said, adding that there was intense public anger around the case.
“Rich people getting away with crime has become so normalized in Thai society,” he said “Thai people don’t accept that it’s OK.”
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