BANGKOK, June 8 – Thailand’s South Bangkok Criminal Court on Friday handed down a 10-year jail term and a fine of one million baht to a former commercial bank adviser for embezzlement.
Wheelchair-bound Rakesh Saxena, 60, arrived in an orange-coloured prison uniform to hear the verdict.
The court ordered him, and several accomplices, to jointly pay Bt1.132 billion restitution to damaged parties in the saga of the failed Bangkok Bank of Commerce (BBC).
The Indian-born financier served as adviser to Krirkkiat Jalichandra, former BBC president, who
with two other bank executives was sentenced to 20 years in jail for embezzling Bt1.22 billion from the bank.
Mr Saxena was found guilty in violating the Securities and Exchange Act in 1995. The defendant, his former boss Mr Krirkkiat, and two other bank executives were prosecuted for jointly applying for a two billion baht loan from the bank via a nominee company. Mr Saxena presented the loan papers for his boss’ approval with land as collateral. The land’s real value was Bt26.9 million but was then falsely expanded to Bt1.350 billion by Mr Saxena and his accomplices.
The court found the act to be an embezzlement of bank assets.
The prosecutors then asked the court to order the defendants to return the embezzled money in the amount of Bt1.657 billion for the damaged parties.
It is the first case for which ailing Mr Saxena has been prosecuted since his extradition from Canada in 2009. He was never granted bail since being extradited, but was put behind bars at the maximum-security Bangkok Remand Prison.
