‘Kamnan Sia’ verdict no show prompts warrant for his arrest
An arrest warrant for former Democrat Party MP Pracha Phothipipit, alias Kamnan Sia, was issued yesterday after he failed to appear to hear the Supreme Court’s judgement on his alleged encroachment on more than 1,000 rai of state land yesterday.
The court has now rescheduled the reading of the verdict for April 18.
Mr Pracha, 74, was charged with encroaching on 1,199 rai of Treasury Department land — of which 299 rai is in Kanchanaburi’s Dan Makhamtia and 900 rai in Ratchaburi’s
Suan Phung district — between 1990-2004.
The case was brought to court by prosecutors in January 2012.
In 2014, the Court of First Instance sentenced Mr Pracha to one year in jail for possessing state land plots without permission, in violation of the Land Code.
The case was brought to the Appeal Court which later increased his jail sentence to four years, reasoning that the defendant encroached on the land plots in full knowledge that the land belonged to the state.
However, the sentence was commuted to three years due to Mr Pracha’s useful testimony.
An arrest warrant was issued for him after he failed to show up to hear the Appeal Court’s verdict on the case on Jan 25 last year.
Besides the land encroachment case, another arrest warrant was also issued the same day due to his failure to appear in the Supreme Court to hear its judgement in a bid-rigging case involving construction projects in Kanchanaburi between 1999-2001.
The Supreme Court handed down a five-year prison term against him.
In another development, yesterday, the Supreme Court postponed to March 28 the reading of its verdict in a case involving former red-shirt leader, Arisman Pongruangrong, who stands accused of defaming former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The date was rescheduled after Arisman failed to show up in court to hear the judgement yesterday. Arisman had said he was ill.
He had earlier been found guilty by two lower courts of defaming Mr Abhisit during speeches he gave on stage on Oct 11 and Oct 17, 2009 at the Democracy Monument and in front of Government House.
The Criminal Court had sentenced Arisman to 12 months i n jail without suspension.
The Appeal Court later found no reason to reduce or suspend the sentence, and upheld the lower court’s decision.
Arisman was later released on 500,000-baht bail for the appeal in the Supreme Court.
In a separate case, the reading of the Supreme Court’s verdict in an extortion racket involving former army officer Maj Chalermchai Matchaklam, alias Phu Phan Tueng, and seven other accomplices was also rescheduled for May 3.
The reading was postponed after Sarayut Phuplab, the first defendant, and Theerayut Suwanpanit, the fourth defendant, were both unable to appear in court due to ill health.