The Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases on Wednesday released former finance minister Thanong Bidaya on bail after he was arraigned over bribery allegations in a deal to supply Rolls-Royce engines for Thai Airways International (THAI) more than three decades ago.
The lawsuit was filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) which found grounds supporting the allegation that Mr Thanong broke the State Employees Offences Act when he was serving as THAI chairman and the airline's adviser on long-term investments. Also arraigned was Kaweepan Ruengpaka, THAI's former vice president for finances. The NACC decided to take the case to court after the Office of the Attorney General decided not to do so, and sent back the case to the NACC.
In a press release on Wednesday, the court said it accepted the lawsuit against the defendants and scheduled a hearing on Oct 7 for the defendants to enter their pleas. Both defendants were released on bail, but they are prohibited from travelling overseas unless they are granted a court permit.
The NACC launched the probe into the bribery allegations after Rolls-Royce admitted misconduct to the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in January 2017. In statements given to the SFO, Rolls-Royce admitted to paying about 254 million baht to individuals to help it secure a deal with the Thai government to purchase Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines for six Boeing 777 aircraft and Trent 500 engines for seven Airbus A340 aircraft.
A statement of facts prepared in a British court said the bribery took place between 1991 and 2005 and involved payments totalling about US$36.3 million (1.28 billion baht) to "regional intermediaries". Some of the money was for "agents of the state of Thailand and employees of Thai Airways", the document said. Several former cabinet ministers and executives of THAI were investigated and in August 2022 the NACC found Mr Thanong and Mr Kaweepan had breached the State Employees Offences Act.
