ID :
137626
Sat, 08/14/2010 - 17:53
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http://m.oananews.org//node/137626
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NACC to file charges against Juthamas with Attorney General if found guilty of receiving bribes
BANGKOK, Aug 14 -- Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) will file charges against ex-Tourism of Thailand (TAT) Governor Juthamas Siriwan with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) so that legal action can be taken her if she is found guilty of accepting bribes from Hollywood filmmakers while in office, an NACC spokesman said.
Spokesman Klanarong Chantik told TNA in a telephone interview that the NACC could only ask Mrs Juthamas to defend herself its charges before anti-graft agency.
If she does not appear, NACC has no authority to bring her for investigation and it means that she opted not to defend herself.
The NACC had already asked the former TAT governor to give information but she sent letter to NACC saying that she needed time to prepare and looked through involved document.
Until now Mrs Jutamas had never turned up at the NACC.
However, he said, if NACC finds that she is guilty, it would then forward the case to OAG so that the latter could file charges against her, Mr Klanarong said.
He said the case is being probed by NACC Commissioner Methee Krongkaew who attended a Thursday court hearing in Los Angeles against the US film producing couple and that progress in the case against Mrs Juthamas will take place after Mr Methee returns to Thailand.
On Thursday the US film producers were identified as Gerald Green and his wife Patricia, who were sentenced to six months in jail by the Los Angeles Court, followed by six months of home detention, for paying US$1.8 million in bribes to Thai officials, including Mrs Juthamas, to enable them to manage the Bangkok International Film Festival between 2002 and 2007.
They must also pay US$250,000 in restitution.
The couple were found guilty of paying bribes to the former tourism chief via bank accounts in Singapore, the isle of Jersey and Britain set up in the names of Mrs Juthamas’s daughter Jittisopa Siriwan and a friend.
US prosecutors said the Greens had received more than US$13.5 million in revenue from the contract. Mrs Green was also found guilty of submitting false United States tax returns.
Mrs Juthamas has not appeared to defend herself since being notified by the NACC in late May. The Thai authorities involved in her case say that her current whereabouts are unknown. (MCOT online news)
Spokesman Klanarong Chantik told TNA in a telephone interview that the NACC could only ask Mrs Juthamas to defend herself its charges before anti-graft agency.
If she does not appear, NACC has no authority to bring her for investigation and it means that she opted not to defend herself.
The NACC had already asked the former TAT governor to give information but she sent letter to NACC saying that she needed time to prepare and looked through involved document.
Until now Mrs Jutamas had never turned up at the NACC.
However, he said, if NACC finds that she is guilty, it would then forward the case to OAG so that the latter could file charges against her, Mr Klanarong said.
He said the case is being probed by NACC Commissioner Methee Krongkaew who attended a Thursday court hearing in Los Angeles against the US film producing couple and that progress in the case against Mrs Juthamas will take place after Mr Methee returns to Thailand.
On Thursday the US film producers were identified as Gerald Green and his wife Patricia, who were sentenced to six months in jail by the Los Angeles Court, followed by six months of home detention, for paying US$1.8 million in bribes to Thai officials, including Mrs Juthamas, to enable them to manage the Bangkok International Film Festival between 2002 and 2007.
They must also pay US$250,000 in restitution.
The couple were found guilty of paying bribes to the former tourism chief via bank accounts in Singapore, the isle of Jersey and Britain set up in the names of Mrs Juthamas’s daughter Jittisopa Siriwan and a friend.
US prosecutors said the Greens had received more than US$13.5 million in revenue from the contract. Mrs Green was also found guilty of submitting false United States tax returns.
Mrs Juthamas has not appeared to defend herself since being notified by the NACC in late May. The Thai authorities involved in her case say that her current whereabouts are unknown. (MCOT online news)
