KANCHANABURI: Italian-Thai Development president Premchai Karnasutra and two co-defendants were granted conditional bail by the Supreme Court on Friday after an overnight stay in Thong Pha Phum prison.
They are required to wear electronic ankle tags to monitor their movements, and are banned from leaving the country.
The court also required them to post 1 million baht each as a surety.
Premchai and co-defendants Yong Dodkruea and Thanee Thummat arrived at the court in Thong Pha Phum district in a Thong Pha Phum prison truck about 9am. They were kept waiting in the detention room at the court until a decision on tjheir bail application was announced in the afternoon.
A prison nurse accompanied Premchai, who has diabetes.
Many reporters were waiting for them at the court after the Supreme Court did not respond to their request for temporary release on Thursday after the Appeal Court increased their jail terms for poaching in the western Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Thong Pha Phum district.
Premchai's lawyer, Withoon Phlaiyaem, arrived ahead of his client and said they were waiting for a response from the Supreme Court on the bail request. The three defendants each raised their offered bail bond by 200,000 baht on Thursday, up from the 400,000-500,000 baht placed for their temporary release during their appeal.
The Appeal Court on Thursday increased the prison sentence handed down to the 64-year-old president of Italian-Thai Development Plc to three years and two months for illegal possession of firearms and wildlife carcasses, including a rare black leopard, and poaching in the wildlife sanctuary early last year.