The Supreme Court on Wednesday sentenced Jongarch Bodhisunthorn, former director-general of the Harbour Department, and six other former department officials to two years in prison in connection with the collapse of a 1.79-billion-baht contract to procure canal-dredging boats in 2002.
The court was delivering its ruling on their final appeal. The six other appellants in the case were - Sanchai Kulpreecha, a former deputy director-general of the Harbour Department for operations, Prawech Rakphaen, Itthipol Kanchanakit, Danai Sripithak, Wichet Pongthongcharoen and Panya Songcharoen.
The Harbour Department has since been been renamed the Marine Department.
Prosecutors in January 2004 filed a lawsuit against the seven, charging them with abuse of authority and document forgery.
The case arose from a contract to purchase canal-dredging boats and related equipment from US-based contractor Ellicott Machine Corporation International for US$49.4 million (about 1.8 billion baht) in 2002. The National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) at the time concluded there were irregularities in the purchasing procedures.
After paying $6.68 million to the contractor, the department received only the mother barge and some equipment, but not the dredging barges. The contractor was unable to build the dredging boats within the timeframe specified in the contract, which was finally cancelled.
The Criminal Court on Dec 28, 2006 dismissed the case against the seven on the grounds the cancellation of the contract was not the fault of the defendants, who had evidence showing they abided by laws and regulations.
On July 19, 2011, the Appeals Court reversed the lower court's decision, sentencing them each to 10 years in prison for abuse of authority and forgery.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday found them guilty only of abuse of authority, and reduced the prison terms from 10 years to two years each.