Court sentences Jumpol to three years’ jail
Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Court has sentenced former deputy police chief, Jumpol Manmai, who was found guilty of forest encroachment, to six years in jail but commuted the term to three years due to his confession.
The offence also cost him his position as Grand Chamberlain of the Royal Household Bureau on Feb 27 and, on the same day his rank of police general, was revoked while he must also return a set of insignia to the King, according to the Royal Gazette.
The court spent 30 minutes yesterday reading its ruling that found Jumpol breached the forest protection law and violated the Criminal Code’s Section 157 which concerns dereliction of duty.
Prosecutors decided to indict Jumpol, 66, on Wednesday after he was detained by police, following an inspection of his house in tambon Thai Samakkhi of Nakhon Ratchasima’s Wang Nam Khieo district on Feb 6.
A further investigation found that his house, a complex of six buildings, sits near public waterways in Thap Lan National Park.
Officials came to this conclusion after they used a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to examine where the house is located and found that it covers about 13 rai. When they compared it with a map, the house encroached on part of the national park.
A housekeeper told officials that Jumpol had built the house for recreational purposes and would visit it once in a while.
“Those buildings must be removed,” said deputy police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, citing the court’s order.
Jumpol was also required to pay 900,000 baht in compensation for damage caused by the encroachment.
According to a police investigation, the plot of land was allegedly sold to Jumpol in 2011 by Pol Maj Gen Pongdech Prommichit, 57, former deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5, and his wife, Chayanis Pisitwanich, 51.
Jumpol was then chief of Provincial Police Region 3, which oversees eight northeastern provinces including Nakhon Ratchasima, while Pol Maj Gen Pongdech was deputy chief of Wang Nam Khieo Police Station and Ms Chayanis was an assistant to the head of the Thai Samakkhi Tambon Administration Organisation.
She allegedly owned the land in 2008 before it was sold to Jumpol three years later.
Pol Maj Gen Pongdech, who has been suspended from his job, denied any involvement in the scandal, Pol Gen Srivara said. He and his wife are among seven suspects, including Jumpol, who police believe had some role in the case.
Others are Thanakorn Manmai, 59, wife of Jumpol, two members of the Pisitwanich family — Phongsak, 58, and Thiraphon, 49 — and Manop Plodkhoksung, 34. The last three are from Nakhon Ratchasima.
Prosecutors are examining evidence to consider whether to indict them.
Mr Thiraphon and Mr Manop were initially found by police investigators to have encroached on a forest reserve and are close associates of Jumpol, Pol Gen Srivara said. The Department of Corrections will decide where Jumpol will be jailed, the deputy police chief said.