The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the 10-year prison term given to Pol Col Prasert Chanthrapipat for taking a 660,000 baht bribe from a jeweller who had purchased some of the jewels stolen from the palace of a Saudi prince 25 years ago.
Twenty years ago Thai janitor Kriangkrai Techamong (wearing the black jacket) sneaked into the home of Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd in the dead of night. His actions changed the course of relations between the two countries. (File photo)
Pol Col Prasert, a former superintendent of the mounted police, was among eight defendants charged with receiving money from jeweller Santi Srithanakhan in 1993.
Other defendants including Chalor Kerdthes, a former police lieutenant general, accepted the finality of their sentences after losing in the Appeals Court.
Only Pol Col Prasert petitioned the Supreme Court.
The lower court acquitted him, but the prosecution took the case to the Appeals Court, which convicted him and handed down the prison sentence.
The Supreme Court ruled it believed four witnesses for the prosecution, and dismissed Pol Col Prasert's claim that there was no witness to confirm he accepted the bribe.
Thai janitor Kriangkrai Techamong stole jewellery worth about 500 million baht from the palace of the late Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd in 1989. Part of the jewellery had reportedly been sold to Santi.
Santi's wife and son were murdered while a group of Thai police, including Chalor, was pressuring him so they could get hold of the jewellery. The bribery reportedly happened during this process.
Some of the jewellery returned to Saudi Arabia was declared to be fake.
Chalor, now 73, who was at the centre of the infamous Saudi "blue diamond" case, was freed in October 2013 after serving 19 years in Bang Kwang Prison for his involvement in abduction and double murders in 1994 relating to the gem theft, on grounds of age and chronic ill health.
The former police commissioner headed the investigation to find the jewellery stolen from the palace.
He was sentenced to death for his role in the 1994 abduction and murder of Darawadee Srithanakhan and her son to force her husband Santi to give information about the stolen jewellery.
Chalor was also given a jail term for tampering with evidence and a jail term for Santi's abduction. He was stripped of his rank of Pol Lt-General and was ordered to return his royal decoration in 2010, after which he changed his name to Thachapol.
The whereabouts of the fabled "blue diamond" remains unknown, despite wild speculation.