Prosecutors demand meet with Sorayuth
The Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) has demanded that TV host Sorayuth Suthassanachinda and two others implicated in the Rai Som fraud report to prosecutors before the end of the month.
The OAG is to decide whether or not to indict the suspects over their alleged involvement in the scam. Its decision will be based on the findings of a new investigation carried out by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
Sorayuth’s company, Rai Som Co, allegedly defrauded the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) out of 138,790,000 baht in advertising revenue between 2005 and 2006.
In June 2003, MCOT signed a contract with Sorayuth, making him the host of a Channel 9 daily news programme. A year later, the anchor founded Rai Som Co, which was allocated advertisement slots of two to five minutes during another of the channel’s programmes.
Rai Som Co was expected to pay 200,000 baht per minute if its advertisements exceeded agreed time slots. Sorayuth was accused, however, of bribing an MCOT employee to conceal evidence that detailed how long his company’s advertisements exceeded the agreed time slots from Feb 4, 2005 to June 30, 2006.
In an earlier investigation, the NACC found that Sorayuth made six payments to Pichapa Iamsa-ard — responsible for recording advertising airtime at MCOT — amounting to 739,7750.50 baht. Sorayuth has denied the accusation.
Yesterday, the OAG told NACC chairman Panthep Klanarongran it would re-examine the case. Prosecutors dismissed the anti-graft body’s first investigation last year, saying it was incomplete.
The NACC has forwarded a new investigation report to the OAG, Mr Panthep said.
Prosecutors expect four suspected parties — Rai Som Co itself, Sorayuth, Ms Pichapa, the MCOT employee, and Montha Teeradech, a Rai Som Co employee — to find lawyers and prepare themselves for possible indictment.