A Thai court yesterday convicted and sentenced two former prosecutors in connection with an alleged cover-up of a 2012 Ferrari crash involving an heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune that killed a police officer.
Former deputy attorney general Nate Naksuk and former prosecutor Chainarong Sangthongaram were sentenced to three and two years respectively for abuse of power to help an individual avoid prosecution, the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases in Bangkok said.
They were among eight people charged with conspiring to alter the recorded speed of the Ferrari driven by Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya to help him evade a speeding charge. The rest, including former police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung, were acquitted due to a lack of evidence linking them to the cover-up, the court said yesterday.
Photo: AP
However, the court ordered all eight to be detained pending an appeal, said the court statement, which did not provide further details. They were later freed on bail, local media reported.
Vorayuth escaped justice by fleeing abroad in a case widely viewed as an example of how the rich and well-connected enjoy impunity in Thailand.
He is the grandson of the late Chaleo Yoovidhya, one of the creators of the globally famous Red Bull brand. Forbes magazine last year listed the Yoovidhya family as Thailand’s richest with an estimated net worth of US$36 billion.
Police have said Vorayuth smashed his Ferrari into the back of a police officer’s motorbike around dawn on a major Bangkok road in September 2012. The officer was flung from the bike and died at the scene. Vorayuth drove home and was later arrested. Medical tests showed traces of alcohol and cocaine in his bloodstream, police said.
Vorayuth avoided further legal action by consistently failing to meet with prosecutors, while continuing for years to live a jet-set life. By the time prosecutors finally issued an arrest warrant in April 2017, he had fled abroad.
His case has been marked by numerous delays in the investigative and judicial processes, running down the clock on most of the charges involving the hit-and-run death of the officer.
There is a single charge left of reckless driving causing death, which expires under the statute of limitations in 2027.
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
NUCLEAR WARNING: Elites are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers, perhaps because they have access to shelters, Tulsi Gabbard said After a trip to Hiroshima, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday warned that “warmongers” were pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Gabbard did not specify her concerns. Gabbard posted on social media a video of grisly footage from the world’s first nuclear attack and of her staring reflectively at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. On Aug. 6, 1945, the US obliterated Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people in the explosion and by the end of the year from the uranium bomb’s effects. Three days later, a US plane dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, leaving abut 74,000 people dead by the
RSS