A convict in the infamous rice pledging scheme of the Yingluck Shinawatra administration has been arrested in Khon Kaen province by officials from the National Anti-Corruption Commission, after being on the run for about ten years.
Suthee Chuemthaisong, one of the defendants in the rice pledging scheme scandal, was sentenced in absentia to 32 years in prison by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders. Along with his guilty co-defendants, he was also ordered to pay compensation to the state, amounting to about 16.9 billion baht.
Suthee fled before his conviction and an arrest warrant was issued by the court.
Suthee went into hiding, but was only recently found to have been living with his Common Law wife in Ban Nong Krungsei, in the Nong Song Hong district of Khon Kaen.
Other high-profile convicts in the case include former commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, his deputy Poom Sarapol, former director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, Manas Soiploi, and businessman Apichart Chansakulporn.
Boonsong was released last year.
