Member of Thai charter drafting panel jailed for fraud

The Straits Times, February 24, 2007




BANGKOK - ONE of 10 members appointed by the military to a committee drafting a new Thai Constitution has been jailed for writing 'dud' cheques.

Thanaboon Jiranuwat, an international law expert, is now serving time in a special Bangkok jail after he was sentenced to 40 month imprisonment by the Supreme Court, according to reports here.

Members of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) were caught off guard by news of his conviction.

Sodsri Satayathum, who was a classmate of Thanaboon at Chulalongkorn University, where they studied political science, said she had wondered why he had not been at work.

The Constitution Drafting Assembly, a 100-member body overseeing the CDC, has pressed Thanaboon to give notice after he was convicted, Bangkok Post reported.

CDC member Thongthong Chandarangsu said there was no replacement for Thanaboon due to a lack of constitutional regulations allowing the Council for National Security (CNS) to appoint a new drafter. As a result, the 35-member CDC is still effectively a member short.

Under the drafters' qualification criteria, no rule stipulates that a drafter should be removed from office if he or she serves a prison term.

The Supreme Court on Feb 8 upheld a lower court ruling in which Thanaboon received 40 months in jail for writing 14 'dud' cheques totalling 4 million baht (S$184,000) to the Friends of Seri Foundation chaired by acting national police chief Lieutenant-General Seripisut Temiyavej.

Thanaboon, whose construction business was losing money, borrowed money from the foundation in September 1996. Lt-Gen Seripisut accepted 14 300,000 baht cheques dated the first of every month as repayment. But Thanaboon's banks returned them unpaid.

Lt-Gen Seripisut sued Thanaboon when he refused to settle the outstanding debt. He was acquitted by the Criminal Court but convicted on appeal.

THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK