The former president of Thai Premier League football club Police United has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for colluding to use fake promissory notes in order to secure Bt2 billion in loans from the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Educational Personnel (OTEP).
A source at Bangkok’s Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court revealed on Friday that the court on Thursday had read its verdict on the lawsuit against Samrit Bunditkritsada, 43, and Billion Innovated Group’s authorised board member Sitthinan Lomthong, 36, on charges of colluding to falsify and use fake promissory notes.
The lawsuit stated that from December 27, 2013 to July 21, 2014, Samrit and the firm, via Sitthinan, had forged drafts with face value of Bt3.2 billion to pledge with the OTEP as guarantee for borrowings totalling Bt2 billion from the agency.
The judge found that the two men, who had denied the charges and had been in detention since their arrests, were guilty of colluding to use fake promissory notes and sentenced both of them to 10 years in jail. The two were later escorted back to the Bangkok Remand Prison
The wrongdoing was detected by the OTEP’s internal audit. It was found that the loan applications via the OTEP funeral welfare loan project were not properly processed as per the required steps because they did not have the approval of the OTEP and the documents used for such loans were fake. The OTEP filed a complaint about the irregularity to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), leading to the investigation that identified the two men as culprits.
Samrit was arrested in Ayutthaya on January 19, 2016 on a warrant issued by the Criminal Court, while Sitthinan was arrested in Bangkok on April 10, 2016. nation
