Klong Chan Credit Union: 16-years jail for Supachai

09 มีนาคม 2559

Supachai siphoned off 22.1 million baht after lieing about credit union's profitability to attract depositors. 3.9 million of embezzled funds returned to depositors.

CRIME & BANKING

Klong Chan Credit Union: 16 years in jail for Supachai

9/03/2016
Post Reporters

The Criminal Court yesterday sentenced the former chairman of the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC), Supachai Srisupa-aksorn, to 16 years in jail, the first such ruling in seven cases connected to the cooperative scandal.

CONFESSION HALVES SENTENCE

Supachai pleaded guilty in court to charges of embezzlement, which he initially denied during police interrogation.

Due to his confession the judge reduced his sentence to 16 years from what would have been 32 years.

Supachai, 58, was taken to court from the Bangkok Remand Prison, where he had been detained and denied bail since April 2 for his role in the KCUC embezzlement scandal.

SIPHONED OFF 22.1 MILLION BAHT FROM CREDIT UNION

According to prosecutors, Supachai, on behalf of the cooperative's caretaker manager at the time, ordered staff to withdraw money from the company's bank accounts eight times from April 10 to Oct 8, 2013.

He then transferred the money into his own accounts and others', siphoning off, in total, 22.1 million baht.

Yesterday's case was the first of seven being handled by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) in which a sentence was passed. Three of the 12-billion-baht in scandal cases involve embezzlement, another three money laundering and the other one public fraud.

3.9 MILLION BAHT RETURNED TO DEPOSITORS

Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) chief Sihanart Prayoonrat said Amlo had decided to return confiscated assets worth 3.9 million baht that were embezzled by Supachai to the cooperative's members.

KCUC lured customers into depositing money with the cooperative by presenting healthy annual figures showing it had been making solid profits, when in actual fact it had suffered losses stretching from 2009-2012.

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