An arrest warrant will be issued for television host Sorayuth Suthassanachinda if he fails to report to prosecutors regarding the Rai Som fraud case by tomorrow, National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) member Phakdi Phosiri warned yesterday.
A letter has been sent to Sorayuth ordering him to report to the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), Mr Phakdi said.
Sorayuth: Faces arrest if fails to show
Sorayuth and two others are implicated in the fraud in which his firm, Rai Som Co, allegedly defrauded the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) out of 138.7 million baht in advertising revenue between 2005 and 2006. The OAG has not yet decided whether to indict the suspects over their alleged involvement in the scam.
In June 2003, MCOT signed a contract with Sorayuth, making him the host of a Channel 9 daily news programme. A year later, the anchor founded Rai Som Co, which was allocated advertisement slots of two to five minutes during another of the channel's programmes.
Rai Som Co was expected to pay 200,000 baht per minute if its adverts exceeded agreed time slots. Sorayuth was accused, however, of bribing an MCOT employee to conceal evidence that disclosed how long his company's adverts exceeded the agreed slots from Feb 4, 2005 to June 30, 2006.
In an earlier probe, the NACC found Sorayuth made six payments to Pichapa Iamsa-ard — who recorded advertising airtime at MCOT — amounting to 739,770 baht. Sorayuth denied the accusation.