Supreme Court upholds Suthep's acquittal in THB5.8-bn project to build police stations

The Supreme Court read the verdict at 11.30am, upholding the ruling of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office in which Suthep and five other defendants were charged by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) of committing malfeasance in the police station and flat building project.

The five other defendants are: Pol General Prateep Tanprasert, former acting National Police chief, Pol Maj-General Sajja Kachahiran, Pol Lt Suriya Jaengsuwan, the PCC Development and Construction Co Ltd, and Wissanu Wisetsing, the owner of PCC Development.

The NACC had charged Suthep and other defendants with abusing their authority to award the 5.80-billion-baht project to build 396 police stations and flat buildings nationwide without first seeking a Cabinet approval. The NACC alleged that Suthep and other defendants had unlawfully awarded the project to the contractor. They were charged with violating Article 157 of the Criminal Code.

The charges were filed after the contractor failed to build most of the stations and flat buildings, leaving deserted construction sites for some 10 years.

On September 20 last year, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office acquitted Suthep and other defendants, prompting the NACC to appeal against the verdict.

In its verdict on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Suthep had the authority to approve the project without seeking an approval from the Cabinet.

The court also ruled that Suthep did not order the change of the original contract to favour PCC Development and that the police committee in charge of the project had studied the project well before making its decision to hire the contractor.

After the project was abandoned, the Royal Thai Police filed a lawsuit against PCC Development, demanding compensation. On September 8 last year, the Central Administrative Court ordered PCC Development to pay a compensation of 1.5 billion baht to the Royal Thai Police.

The final decision in the compensation case is awaiting a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court.