The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct yesterday acquitted Panthongtae Shinawatra of money laundering, ruling he had not known about the source of a 10-million-baht cheque he received from a friend involved in the Krungthai Bank (KTB) loan scandal.
Public prosecutors arraigned the 41-year-old son of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Oct 10 last year, charging him with receiving a cheque drawn on money from illegal loans totalling 9.9 billion baht obtained from the state-run KTB.
Mr Panthongtae denied money laundering. He said the money belonged to his friend Ratchada Krisdathanon, 53, who wanted to invest in a planned supercar import venture which was later scrapped.
During the trial, Mr Panthongtae was released on bail of 1 million baht on condition that he did not leave the country.
The court ruled Mr Panthongtae not guilty of money laundering because prosecutors failed to prove he knew that the 10 million baht came from Ratchada's father, Wichai Krisdathanon, owner of real estate developer Krisdamahanakorn (KMC).
Mr Panthongthae received the money when he was a 26-year-old graduate and owned shares in his own companies worth about 4 billion baht. The 10-million-baht sum represented only 0.25% of his share wealth, the court said.
The court also mentioned that Thaksin, Mr Panthongtae's father, was acquitted in the KTB loan case.
Public prosecutors had merely proved that at the time he received the cheque, Mr Panthongtae was close to Wichai's family, the court said.
After the ruling, Mr Panthongtae said he had received considerable moral support and was grateful for it.
He was accompanied by his smiling mother, Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, who said she felt relieved by the verdict.
The 10-million-baht cheque received by Mr Panthongtae was allegedly drawn on illegitimately approved loans of 9.9 billion baht that KTB extended to subsidiaries of KMC between 2003 and 2004 while his father Thaksin was prime minister.
Wichai, 80, was sentenced to 12 years in prison over the KTB loans in 2015.
At the time, KMC was under a debt-rehabilitation agreement and thus not eligible to receive any more loans.
However, KTB extended credit lines totalling 9.9 billion baht to its subsidiaries. Of that total, 8 billion baht was to repay its debts with Bangkok Bank. One of the directors alleged a "big boss" wanted them to approve the loan.
But days before the loan was approved, Bangkok Bank, KMC's creditor, offered to cut the debt to 4.5 billion baht from 14.3 billion if the amount was paid in a month.
After receiving the 8-billion-baht loan from KTB, only 4.5 billion went to clearing the debt with Bangkok Bank.
The rest was spent in transactions with different groups and people, including Wichai, whose money was used to draw the 10-million-baht cashier's cheque for Mr Panthongtae.
In 2015, former KTB president Viroj Nualkhair, former bank chairman Suchai Jaovisidha and 22 other bank staff were found guilty of charges connected to the KTB scandal.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court acquitted Thaksin of charges in connection with the same KTB loan scandal, ruling there had been no proof presented that he was the "big boss" who had ordered KTB to approve the 9.9 billion baht in loans to KMC's affiliates.