Unusually rich ex-Revenue Dept chief loses king’s ransom in gold bars
Supreme Court upholds previous rulings, says 871.5 million worth of gold cannot be explained as honest earnings
The Supreme Court has upheld lower courts’ rulings and ordered the seizure of gold bars worth 871.5 million baht owned by a former Revenue Department chief.
Niwatchai Kasemmongkol, secretary-general of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), said on Thursday that the Supreme Court decided on July 17 to uphold the rulings of the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases and the Appeals Court against Satit Rungkasiri, a former Revenue Department director-general.
The Supreme Court ruled that Satit’s 15 gold bar purchases from Hua Seng Heng Commoditas Co Ltd and other assets be confiscated as state assets as ordered by the Appeals Court.
As of July 17, gold bars of 20,976.2 baht weight were valued at 871.56 million baht.
The NACC resolved to indict Satit on October 28, 2016, for being unusually rich after the NACC learned that the former Revenue Department chief had made 15 big gold bar purchases.
The commission decided that Satit’s assets had risen so much during his tenure as Revenue Department chief that he could not defend it as having been earned honestly.
The gold has been placed under the care of the Bank of Thailand since 2019.
Niwatchai said the NACC will hand the gold bars over to the Finance Ministry as soon as the clearance procedure is completed.
