The Supreme Court has confirmed a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, for Sondhi Limthongkul’s son, Jittanart, for broadcasting programmes on ASTV News 1 satellite TV without a licence.
The judges on Thursday upheld an Appeal Court ruling which found Jittanart, together with Pachara Samudavanija -- both executives of Thaiday Dot Com Co -- guilty of the offence, committed from September, 2005 to February, 2006.
Both were sentenced to one year and four months in jail.
However, the judges suspended their imprisonment for three years as their offences ocurred when the country had yet to establish the current broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.
Prosecutors said the pair broadcast TV programmes via fibre optic cables leased from CAT Telecom Plc and transmitted them to Hong Kong.
They also beamed visual and audio signals via a satellite in order to air programmes on ASTV News 1 channel.
The charges were denied by the two defendants, which were intitially dismissed by the Court of the First Instance.
However, the Appeal Court found there were grounds to the chsrges and gave them two-year prison terms. The sentence was them commuted to 16 months because their testimony was helpful.
The judges also ordered their company to pay a fine of 60,000 baht.
Jittanart’s father, Sondhi, was in court on Thursday when the Supreme Court's decision was read out.
Sondhi, 72, was released earlier this week from prison under a royal pardon granted to mark the coronation of His Majesty the King.
The former leader of the now-defunct People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-Thaksin movement, was jailed in 2016 when the Supreme Court handed down 20-year jail sentences against Sondhi, also founder of Manager Media Group, and two former Manager directors for violating the Securities and Exchange Act.
Sondhi was eligible for a pardon as he met the age criteria of being over 70 years old, former PAD core leader Panthep Puapongphan wrote on his Facebook page.
There were no irregularities behind the release, such as a “secret order from a certain person", Mr Panthep said.