Police have detained Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC) collapse kingpin Rakesh Saxena following his release from prison and he will be deported.
The bank's collapse through mismanagement of huge under-collateralised loans in 1995 marked the start of the Asian "Tom Yam Kung" financial crisis.
A source said economic crime suppression police received 72-year-old Saxena, an Indian national, from the Medical Correctional Institution on Monday and took him to Police General Hospital for medical treatment. Doctors there said he did not need to stay in the hospital and was fit to travel.
Police are now coordinating with Indian authorities to arrange his deportation.
Saxena was born in Indore in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. He was convicted of embezzling funds from the bank from 1994 to 1996 while an adviser to the late Krirkkiat Jalichandra, then president of the BBC.
The sums embezzled were estimated at US$75 million. He was charged in 1996 following the collapse of the BBC in 1995.
The embezzlement contributed to the bank's failure, which precipitated a system-wide collapse, leading to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Saxena fled to Canada and was arrested near Vancouver in July 1996. He spent the next 12 years in home detention, for which he paid the expenses, at a luxury condo in the west coast city.
After a lengthy extradition battle, a Canadian court rejected his objection to the extradition in November 2008 and he was eventually returned to stand trial in Thailand.
In June 2012, the Bangkok South Criminal Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison, and ordered him to pay a fine of one million baht and return 1.13 billion baht to the bank in connection with illicit loans granted to City Trading Corp totalling 1.6 billion baht.
In September 2022 the Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling and sentenced him to a total of 335 years in prison, fined him 33.5 million baht and ordered him to return about 2 billion baht to damaged parties in three cases brought under the Securities and Exchange Commission Act. By law, his real sentence was capped at 20 years.
After serving 15 years, he was granted royal clemency on the occasion of the sixth-cycle birthday of His Majesty the King on July 28 this year.
A source at the Department of Corrections said Saxena had been detained initially at Bangkok Remand Prison pending trial and later moved to Klong Prem Central Prison. Due to age-related illness, he was moved to the Medical Correctional Institution and remained there until his release on Monday.
Police and medics take Rakesh Saxena, 72, from the Medical Corrections Institute on Monday to take him to Police General Hospital for medical check-ups. Doctors said he did not need to stay in the hospital and was fit to travel. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)