"Rakesh Saxena" sentenced to 10-year imprisonment

BANGKOK, June 8 (TNA) - A former adviser to now-defunct Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC), Rakesh Saxena, was sentenced to a 10-year jail term for embezzlement by the South Bangkok Criminal Court on Friday. The Thai court also ordered that the now 60-year-old Indian-born ex-BBC financier pay a one-million-baht fine for the offense. Saxena, who arrived at the court earlier in the day in a wheelchair and in prison uniform, was also ordered to repay 1.13 billion baht related to illicit loans he previously provided to City Trading Corp totalling 1.6 billion baht. Saxena, former BBC president Krirkkiat Jalichandra and other BBC executives were found guilty by the court for using City Trading Corp as a nominee to borrow money from BBC on February 10, 1995. Collateral for the loans was appraised at up to 100 times higher than the market value, or from 26.9 million baht to 1.35 billion baht. (TNA)