Thai court sentences veteran politician to 3 years for corruption

Posted : Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:34:19 GMT

By : dpa

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Bangkok - A Thai criminal court on Thursday sentenced veteran politician Vatana Asavanhame - believed to be hiding in Cambodia - to three years imprisonment for involvement in "the mother of all corruption scandals."Bangkok's Dusit Criminal Court sentenced Vatana and 18 other defendants - 10 politicians and government officials and eight private businessmen - to three years imprisonment each and ordered them collectively to repay 22 billion baht (660 million dollars) to the government after finding them guilty of corruption in the Klong Dan wastewater treatment plant scandal.

Vatana, the former leader of the Rassadorn Party, was found guilty of exploiting his position as deputy interior minister to ramp up the purchase price more than tenfold on land sold to the government's Pollution Control Department in 1997 to set up the wastewater treatment plant in Samut Prakan province.

The project, which was shelved in 2003 due to pollution concerns and corruption allegations, was dubbed "the mother of all corruption scandals" by the Thai press.

He is one of the few Thai politicians to have been brought to trial and found guilty of corruption while in office.

Vatana has been on the run, reportedly living in neighbouring Cambodia, since the Supreme Court Criminal Division for Political Office Holders found him guilty last year of bribing officials in the Klong Dan deal and sentenced him to 10 years in jail.

The same court last year found former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of abuse of power for allowing his wife to successfully bid on a prime plot of land in Bangkok at a government auction in 2003, when he was still premier. He was sentenced to two years in jail.

Thaksin, who fled Thailand in August, 2008, and has been living in self-exile since, is currently in Cambodia, acting as an economic advisor to the government and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.