Former deputy secretary-general of Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) Prayad Puangchampa was sentenced today (Thursday) to four months in jail, suspended for 12 months, and fined 10,000 baht after being found guilty of making a false declaration of his assets and liabilities.
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders also banned him from holding office as a state official for five years.
Prayad was dismissed from his post last August. According to the NACC investigation, he was found to have amassed 658 million baht in wealth, of which 227 million baht was held in his wife’s name, which he did not declare.
The court said that Prayad’s wife, Thanipa, owns a townhouse in London and had a bank account there by the time that her husband declared his assets and liabilities before assuming the office, as legally required.
As a businesswoman, the court said that Thanipa should have studied the legal consequences of owning property and ruled that Prayad deliberately concealed the facts about the real estate deal in the declaration of his assets to the NACC.
