Boonsong freed after 7 years in jail for Yingluck govt rice deal

Former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom was on Monday released on compassionate parole after serving seven years for his role in the Yingluck Shinawatra administration’s fake government-to-government rice deal.

Officials from Bangkok’s Seventh Probation Office attached an electronic monitoring bracelet to Boonsong’s ankle at the Medical Correctional Hospital at 8.30am, before he was released at 10am.

His release came four months after the Pheu Thai Party returned to power following the ouster of Yingluck’s government in the military coup of 2014.  

Boonsong informed probation officials that he would travel to Chiang Mai on Tuesday to serve out his probation period at his home in the northern province.

He is due to report to the Chiang Mai Probation Office on Wednesday.
Boonsong, now 64, was convicted and sentenced to 48 years in jail but his term has been commuted twice, making him eligible for parole on Monday

In August 2017, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office sentenced him to 42 years after finding that G2G contracts to export rice bought under the pledging scheme were fabricated. The court found that the rice was instead sold at cheap prices to private firms, leading to massive losses for the state.

In September 2019, his jail term was extended to 48 years on appeal.
Boonsong’s term was reduced twice by royal clemency in 2021, to 16 years and then to 10 years. His sentence is now due to expire on April 21, 2028.

Yingluck was sentenced to five years in absentia over the deal after fleeing the country in 2017. She remains in self-exile.