Supreme Court orders seizure of assets and gold bars of Sathit Rangkasiri

NACC, The NACC revealed that the Supreme Court ruled to seize assets and gold bars of "Sathit Rangkasiri", former Director-General of the Revenue Department, worth more than 800 million baht, to be the property of the state from the unusual wealth case. Mr. Niwatchai Kasem Mongkol, Secretary-General of the NACC and spokesman for the NACC office, announced that on July 17, 2024, the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases read the Supreme Court's verdict in Red Case No. Or 2/2019, in which the Attorney General filed a complaint against Mr. Sathit Rangkasiri, former Director-General of the Revenue Department, for unusual wealth. The Supreme Court upheld the Appeal Court's verdict that the purchase of 15 gold bars in Mr. Sathit's name with Hua Seng Heng Commodity Touch Co., Ltd., totaling 20,976.2 baht (gold) worth 871,561,110 baht (the average price of gold bars on July 17, 2024 was 41,550 baht per baht), should be forfeited to the state, together with other assets that the Appeal Court rule d to forfeit to the state. For the said case, the NACC has resolved to indict Mr. Sathit Rangkasiri, the accused, when he was the Director-General of the Revenue Department, in the unusual wealth case on October 28, 2016, and resolved that the purchase of gold bars in the name of Mr. Sathit Rangkasiri with Hua Seng Heng Commodity Touch Co., Ltd., a total of 15 items, are assets in which Mr. Sathit is unusually wealthy, with unusually large assets or unusually large increases in assets, and has acquired assets inappropriately as a result of performing his duties. For the gold items that have been seized during the trial process, the NACC has entrusted the Bank of Thailand to be the receiver and safeguard since 2019. The Supreme Court has made a final judgment in the case that the gold must be forfeited to the state. The NACC will have a process to deliver the gold to the Ministry of Finance, which is currently in the process of coordinating with 3 parties: the NACC, the Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of T hailand to proceed with the delivery process. During 2018-2024, there were still many cases in which the NACC had a resolution to indict and there were requests for the court to seize assets to become state property, which are currently under consideration by the court. Source: Thai News Agency