With 2022 approaching, the 'Bangkok Post' has selected the top five news stories about justice that were the talk of the town over the past 12 months.
Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin is in hot water for seeking royal pardons to cut jail terms for prisoners serving time for corruption. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
1. Pardon ructions
Seeking a royal pardon to reduce jail terms for inmates has rarely been so controversial. A recent announcement naming the beneficiaries of pardons caused a stir.
They included big fish convicted of corruption in the rice pledging scheme who were in line to receive an early release from prison.
The request for the pardons has landed Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin and the Corrections Department in hot water.
They were responsible for trying to secure jail term cuts for the big-name inmates.
Opponents of the rice-pledging programme under the Pheu Thai Party-led administration and senators led by Somchai Sawaengkarn were outraged.
Joined by anti-graft organisations, they called for the jail term cuts to be cancelled and criteria for granting early release from prison to be reviewed. Some demanded Mr Somsak be booted out.
Some claimed the jail terms of several high-profile prisoners had been cut on many occasions after they were recognised for good behaviour, a status which qualifies them for eventual early discharge.
The subjects of the public outcry were former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and a group of high-ranking officials and businessmen convicted of colluding in committing graft connected to the rice-pledging programmes. One allegation was the export of rice under a bogus government-to-government deal to China.
Among the pardon recipients were Boonsong and former deputy agriculture minister Poom Sarapol.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered an independent committee to look into the pardon-seeking move and revise jail-term cut criteria.
Boonsong was sentenced to 48 years in jail by the Supreme Court. He will have his prison term reduced to 10 years and eight months and be freed in April 2028 if the pardon goes ahead.
Poom was sentenced to 36 years in jail by the Supreme Court.
He will have his prison term reduced to five years in jail and will be released in August 2025, if his jail term reduction plan proceeds.
Also in line for a pardon is former Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan, sentenced to 50 years in prison for bribery in connection with the hosting of the Bangkok International Film Festival. Her sentence will be reduced to 17 years.
Former justice minister Gen Paiboon Khumchaya put in place the criteria for inmates' early release; they must possess outstanding behaviour, be of advanced age or have served at least one-third of their jail term.
During his tenure, Gen Paiboon laid out a clear stipulation regarding two groups of prisoners who would not be eligible to parole.
They are inmates in corruption and fraud offences, and major drug traders or traffickers.
The criteria were left untouched until after Mr Somsak assumed the role of justice minister.
As prisons were crowded with mostly drug inmates, regulations were quietly amended which saw many prisoners granted jail term reductions or early parole.
Some politicians such as former deputy agriculture minister and red-shirt leader Nattawut Saikuar, former deputy prime minister Plodprasop Suraswadi and former Pheu Thai leader Yongyut Wichaidit were given special leave from prison to attend funerals. They were all discharged from prison early.
An official retrieves a package containing heroin from a paint bucket in July. Heroin weighing 314kg, with a street value of 943 million baht, was found in paint buckets and seized at Laem Chabang port before it could be shipped overseas. (Photo: Apichit Jinakul)
2. Drug gang reveal
Several transnational drug gangs have been busted this year.
These crackdowns revealed various new tactics used to smuggle drugs into and out of Thailand, ranging from hiding illicit products in Buddhist Sangkhaphan alms to hiding them in snack packages.
Despite constant surveillance by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), certain outbound drug smuggling attempts were found to be successful.
They became known only when authorities in other countries including Canada, Australia and Taiwan intercepted them.
Among major transnational drug smuggling cases caught by Thai authorities before the drugs could be shipped to their destinations was one revealed on July 6 when 314.63 kilogrammes of heroin, with a street value of 943.89 million baht, was found and seized.
Packed in heavily sealed packages hidden in 135 paint buckets, the drugs were en route to Australia.
The unusual paint buckets were seized at Laem Chabang port before they could be shipped to the destination, courtesy of an intelligence report.
Wichai Chaimongkon, secretary-general of the ONCB, said Khamla Wong, a half-Lao-half-Vietnamese man with Canadian citizenship, was a key suspect behind this gang.
A Thai father and son identified as Ek Iam-on and Anon Iam-on were later arrested and charged for supporting the gang whose leader and two Lao accomplices are still on the loose, said Mr Wichai.
Exchanging information about this drug case with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the ONCB later learned that Evan Isshak, a 38-year-old Australian national wanted by the Australian police in several drug cases, was also involved, said Mr Wichai.
Most recently, on Nov 18 the ONCB was notified by the AFP that Mr Isshak and another suspect had been caught while the Australian investigators had discovered these suspects used a "secret" mobile application to communicate with their counterparts in other countries.
Construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta arrives for sentencing by the Supreme Court which gave him to two years and 14 months in prison for illegally hunting protected wildlife in the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in 2018. He was also ordered to pay 2 million baht in damages. (Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen)
3. Premchai jailed
The Supreme Court sentenced construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta to two years and 14 months in prison on Dec 8 for hunting in Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Thong Pha Phum district, Kanchanaburi province, about four years ago.
On Dec 8, Thong Pha Phum Provincial Court in Kanchanaburi delivered the sentence on behalf of the Supreme Court.
His former driver Yong Dodkruea, 68, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison while his hunter Thanee Thummat, 59, received three years and one month for joining the expedition.
The trio, along with a cook, were arrested at a camp in Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in tambon Chalae of Thong Pha Phum district on Feb 4, 2018, for hunting wildlife.
They were found with the carcasses of a rare black panther, a kalij pheasant a barking deer, and a number of bullets.
In March, 2019, the court of first instance sentenced Premchai 16 months in jail but acquitted him on charges of collecting wild items and having a black panther carcass in his possession.
He secured his own bail with a payment of 400,000 baht.
During the proceedings, Premchai also faced other light charges such as carrying a pistol, knives and hunting equipment.
Then in December 2019, the Appeal Court expanded the jail term to two years and 14 months and ruled he illegally possessed the panther carcass.
The Supreme Court upheld the Appeal Court's ruling this year.
Officers of the national park, Thong Pha Phum investigators and public prosecutors took the credit for justice being delivered, a rare case involving such an influential person.
Director-general of the Corrections Department, Aryut Sinthopphan, said Premchai initially was taken to a quarantine facility in Thong Pha Phum prison in Kanchanaburi.
A doctor from Thong Pha Phum Hospital who examined Premchai said the 66-year-old had health conditions such as hypertension, fatty liver and coronary heart disease.
The Department of Special Investigation diaplays pictures of some of the 854 luxury cars for which import tax was evaded. (Photo: Pornprom Satrabhaya)
4. Supercar probe
Four years have gone by since the Department of Special Investigation's (DSI) high-profile confiscation of supercars suspected of being part of a tax avoidance network.
According to an update released in late November, the DSI has formed 10 teams to seek the information it needs to start legal proceedings against 114 luxury car importers found to have evaded taxes on 854 imported cars.
Each of the teams will handle about 80 cars and 12–13 importers with the DSI aiming to complete the investigation within four months.
The case is under the supervision of the DSI deputy chief, Pol Lt Col Phayao Thongsen.
The 854 supercars, from 17 brands, were imported from the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2014. Supercars are classified as luxury, high-performance sports cars with price tags above 8 million baht.
The Customs Department estimated the dealers' actions caused a loss of 2.6 billion baht in customs fees, local government and value-added taxes.
There are reportedly two batches of supercars being investigated for alleged tax evasion. The second batch of 574 luxury vehicles is being looked into by the DSI's Regional Special Investigations Divisions.
The probe into tax evasion involving luxury and supercars was launched in 2017 when the DSI seized 122 luxury cars at nine locations related to Niche Cars Group and found the state had lost 2.4 billion baht in unpaid taxes.
The price of each car was declared at up to 40% of the actual price, and the assessed tariff was 10-18 million baht below the actual rate.
The supercar business caught the authorities' attention when four of six supercars on a transporter were destroyed in a fire in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district in 2013.
Investigators concluded it was part of an illegal operation taking luxury cars to remote provinces where they could be more conveniently registered with the aid of land transport officials.
The probe into supercars is said to be among priority issues for DSI chief Triyarith Temahivong, who assumed the post in October this year. The tax evasion charge has a 15-year statute of limitations.
Vorayuth: It's a lengthy saga
5. Red Bull scion
Police are intensifying their search for Red Bull scion Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya after reports emerged that he is in Austria, though the Royal Thai Police (RTP) have no evidence of his residency there.
Mr Vorayuth is wanted for an infamous hit-and-run case from 2012 while a cocaine-related charge will expire next year.
The Austria claim was made in November by vice chairman of the House committee on police affairs, Sanya Nilsupan, after a meeting with the RTP that concentrated on Mr Vorayuth's whereabouts.
Mr Sanya said the search for Mr Vorayuth is still on, and that the police believe the fugitive is living in Austria.
The hit-and-run case has drawn much public attention since Aug 2012 when he rammed his car into a motorcycle ridden by Pol Snr Sg Maj Wichian Klanprasert of Thong Lor police, which resulted in the officer's death.
Mr Vorayuth failed to appear in court five times before fleeing abroad later that year.
The case also tainted the justice system as investigators initially said Mr Vorayuth had driven his Ferrari at 177 kilometres per hour, but later reduced the estimated speed below 80kph.
The Public Prosecutors Commission launched a disciplinary investigation into former deputy attorney general Nate Naksuk's decision to drop a charge of reckless driving causing death against Mr Vorayuth. But the matter did not progress.
Natchanon Srikokuea, spokesman of the House committee on police affairs, said the Foreign Affairs Ministry has informed authorities from almost 100 countries, 70 of which have replied that the suspect had not been seen there.
Officials also discovered a visa for Austria related to the Red Bull business, but the visa has expired and has never been used.
"Police failed to get a score for this case. The police inspector-general will also carry out a disciplinary probe into 18 related officials and four others who gave an opinion about the car's speed this month," he said.
Itthiporn Kaewthip, director-general of the Office of Criminal Prosecution, speaking in his capacity as chief of the working team tied to the case, admitted officials still have no idea where the suspect is.
"However, prosecutors are ready to coordinate with their foreign counterparts for the extradition as soon as the office learns of his whereabouts," said Mr Itthiporn.
Currently, two charges remain active -- the first for narcotics after cocaine was found in his system following a drug test. That charge will expire on Sept 3 next year. The second charge -- reckless driving causing death -- will expire in 2027.