Rakesh Saxena granted royal pardon, awaits deportation
Financier convicted in the Bangkok Bank of Commerce collapse has been released and awaiting extradition to India
Rakesh Saxena, the Indian financial wizard who was behind the collapse of the Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC), was granted a royal pardon and will be deported.
The 72-year-old was granted release on Monday as part of His Majesty the King’s 6th cycle birthday celebrations. Sources said he was shifted from the Medical Correctional Institute to the Police General Hospital, where he will be kept until he is deported.
Saxena was convicted of embezzlement in 1996, while working as an adviser to Krirkkiat Jalichandra, then-managing director of the bank.
He is believed to have siphoned US$75 million, causing the bank to collapse and sparking a financial disaster, which eventually led to the Tom Yum Kung crisis in 1997.
The cause of BBC’s collapse is believed to be the extension of loans and overdraft credit lines to Somprasong Intercommunication Co, Ltd and around 10 other private companies, without the review or approval of the bank’s credit committee or executive board.
Saxena and his associates were also accused of unlawfully profiting from the misappropriation of bank funds through fraudulent means.
The suspect was outside Thailand and sought refuge in Canada when news of the bank’s collapse broke. However, after a court battle for nearly 13 years, the Canadian Supreme Court rejected his objections and decided to extradite him to Thailand on October 29, 2009.
In Thailand, Saxena was tried in three courts, with the Supreme Court finally sentencing him to 335 years in prison in September 2022 and fining him 33.5 million baht. However, under Thai law, his prison sentence was capped at 20 years.
The Bank of Thailand managed to recover 5 billion baht in assets from Saxena, out of the total damage claimed in the lawsuit.
