The Criminal Court has authorized the indictment against eight defendants in cases involving misconduct and corruption. By altering the stated speed of the car driven by a Red Bull scion, which led to a fatal collision involving a police officer, the defendants are alleged to have used their power to conceal the case.
All eight defendants have been granted provisional freedom by the court, but only under the stipulation that they are not allowed to leave the country.
On August 29, the Attorney General filed a complaint against Police General Somyot Poompanmoung and seven other defendants in a corruption case through the Special Prosecutor for Anti-Corruption Cases 1. The defendants were charged with corruption in the lawsuit.
The incident that led to this case occurred on September 3, 2012, at approximately 5:20 a.m., when Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya crashed his Ferrari into the back of a motorcycle driven by Pol. Sgt. Maj. Wichian Klanprasert. The officer who was standing at the entrance of Soi Sukhumvit 49 was killed.
Officers from the Thonglor Police Station then conducted an investigation and collected evidence related to the traffic case. One of these pieces of evidence was a Central Forensic Science Division report. This evaluation, which analyzed the vehicle driven by Vorayuth using CCTV footage and real distance measurements, found that the average speed was 177 km/h, with a possible error margin of 17 km/h.
Boss Red Bull (Photo- Social media)
After that, investigators turned the case over to prosecutors at the Southern Bangkok Criminal Case Office, who recommended that Vorayuth face charges of reckless driving, causing death and property damage, and failing to stop in order to report the accident and offer assistance.
In addition to exceeding the speed limit and causing damage to both people and property without stopping to offer reasonable assistance, Vorayuth was charged with reckless driving that caused death and damage to other people’s property on May 2, 2013. The Director-General of the Southern Bangkok Criminal Case Office made the decision to file these charges. Vorayuth was not charged with driving while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs and causing death.
After a while, the Royal Thai Police’s Deputy Commissioner General, who had been appointed by the Commissioner General, reviewed the case and expressed no objections to the ruling that Vorayuth would not face charges of driving while intoxicated that caused death. Thus, the conclusion that charges were unnecessary was final.
The statute of limitations for the remaining reckless driving offense that caused death had already passed during this period.
As a result, Vorayuth’s prosecution for reckless driving that caused death was barred by an order issued by the eighth defendant, an authorized prosecutor. Additionally, the order of non-prosecution became final because the Royal Thai Police’s Commissioner General, acting through the Deputy Commissioner General, chose not to appeal the prosecutor’s decision.
As intended, the eight defendants worked together to reduce Vorayuth’s vehicle’s speed from 177 km/h to 80 km/h at the time of the collision. This was done in spite of the fact that it was willful misconduct and a substantial divergence from the truth. The conspiracy occurred from February 29, 2016, to June 13, 2020.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) concluded that there was enough evidence to support the filing of criminal charges after looking into the actions of the eight defendants. To begin legal proceedings, the study, related materials, and recommendations were forwarded to the Attorney General. As a result, the Attorney General filed lawsuits against the eight alleged criminals.
After reviewing the prosecutor’s complaint and the evidence presented—which included 30 files and nine boxes—the court accepted the complaint and scheduled a preliminary hearing for September 10, 2024, at 9:30 a.m.
During this time, each of the eight accused filed a bail request for 200,000 baht. With the condition that they cannot leave the country until the court gives them permission to do so, the court granted them temporary freedom.
